Mountains and Seas

Chapter 173: Release Lu's poisonous plot

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After the blow, Murong Ba’s face turned as pale as paper.

When seriously injured, facing an equally powerful opponent is an act of seeking death no matter how you look at it.

A thought flashed through his mind. He didn't bother to say any polite words or even say hello. He quickly covered his lower abdomen with his hands, and threw his whole body on the horse's back, then rode away quickly towards the direction of the Khitan army.

Along the way, blood was dripping from time to time. This sudden change immediately attracted the attention of the Khitan general.

Dozens of Di generals suddenly rushed out on horseback from the Di army formation, all of them with serious faces, and greeted Murong Ba. They instantly protected him in the middle, while being on guard against Zhu Li, they escorted the injured Murong Ba back to the army formation.

By the time Zhu Li turned his horse around, Murong Ba had already been protected by General Di and was about to enter the army formation. Even if Zhu Li wanted to chase him, it was impossible.

When the soldiers of the Tang army saw that the Di general had fled and their general was still standing proudly on the battlefield, they all looked excited.

Gao Yuan took the lead in brandishing his spear and shouted, "General, you are mighty."

"Bang, bang, Shenwu."

"Bang, bang, Shenwu."

... ...

Gao Yuan, the commander of the vanguard formation, shouted out his divine power and immediately mobilized 3,000 vanguard formation guards to respond.

They brandished their steel spears and pounded the large shields in their hands, while shouting in unison. Then, the entire Juyongguan guards, countless archers, and Yue cavalry immediately followed suit.

"The General is Mighty"

"General Shenmue"

... ...

The joy and shouts of tens of thousands of people broke through the sky and went straight into the universe.

Such cheering and exciting scenes were undoubtedly a loud slap in the face in the eyes of the Khitans, Tuhuns and Xi peoples.

The faces of the Xi commander Xia La Ge, the chieftain Bala, the Dala Yu Yue Yelu Shilu, the fierce general Yelu Sala, and the Yilijin Yu Yue Yelu Xiadi all turned gloomy.

Murong Ba was the most powerful general of the Khitan. Among the eight Khitan tribes, he served as Tamarinshali, a position equivalent to the commander of the imperial guards, and was a role model for the Khitan military.

Now even he has been defeated and injured, one can imagine how embarrassed the Di people are.

Among the Di people, if you don't have absolute military force to subdue all the enemies, you will never be able to sit on the throne of Tamar Xishali.

In the Khitan tribe, the invincible Murong Ba was defeated, and he was defeated by an unknown minor governor. The Di people were not only in disbelief, but also felt like they had lost their parents.

Although Zhu Li lost the opportunity to hunt down Murong Ba, he also crushed the Khitan's attempt to defeat the morale of the Tang army. After Murong Ba's defeat, it was obvious that the Khitans would not attack Guancheng in recent days. They needed time to rebuild their morale.

Before Zhu Li arrived, Yelu Sala had won battle after battle, pushing the morale of the Khitan to its peak.

But since Gao Siji fled in defeat and Li Hanzhi took up the battle, Yelu Sala was defeated, which destroyed half of the Di people's accumulated morale.

Murong Ba came out to save the situation, but ended up meeting Zhu Li, who was stabbed with more than a dozen holes on his body. If he had not seen the opportunity quickly, he would have almost died on the spot. After this battle, Zhu Li completely destroyed the morale of the Di people, leaving not a single bit of it behind.

Unless someone challenges Zhu Li and defeats him, but even Murong Chui was defeated, who else can defeat this person? At least there is no such person in the Khitan army now.

After returning to the city gate, Zhu Li received an unprecedented welcome.

Even the two brothers Gao Siji and Gao Mian had a look of respect on their faces, bowing and greeting with a very humble attitude.

There is a large hall on Juyongguan where people can look out, discuss matters and issue orders.

Before night falls, all the generals gather here.

Zhu Li, who was a rebel, was invited to the main seat, which surprised Gao Siji and Gao Mian.

Yue Pengju stepped out of the line and bowed, saying, "General, you are new here. Let me introduce the latest situation."

"Well, thank you for your help, Brother Yue." Zhu Li said sincerely.

All this seemed natural to Li Hanzhi, Gao Yuan and Zhang Guimou. After all, they knew that Yue Pengju was from Shuozhou.

But in the eyes of Gao Siji, Gao Mian and others, they were confused.

Zhu Li came from afar to reinforce and is a guest army. As the general of Fan Yang, Yue Pengju should not call himself a subordinate. If Yue Pengju calls himself a subordinate, what should they do

Yue Pengju was the commander-in-chief of the Zhenyuan Army, and the two of them were merely deputy generals of the Weiwu Army. In Fanyang, if they met Yue Pengju on the road, they would have to call him general for the sake of face.

Now even the generals call themselves subordinates. What else can the two deputy generals say? They can only follow suit and call themselves subordinates.

These were all trivial matters. Yue Pengju had no time to guess the complicated inner thoughts of these two people. He left his hometown and fled to the north with his family just to pledge his loyalty to Zhu Li. Was there anything wrong in calling himself a subordinate in front of Zhu Li

"General, the enemy has a total force of nearly 200,000, divided into four groups: the Khitan Yilijin group, the Khitan Dala group, the Xi people group, and the Tuhun group."

"Because the Guangbian Army rushed into battle and was defeated, Guizhou was lost. In order to plunder Guizhou, the four divisions gathered together and now arrived at Juyongguan together. Although they are together now, it does not mean that they will always be together. They may also split up to plunder."

"To the west of Juyong Pass are Junduxing and Piantou Fort; to the east of Juyong Pass are Beikou and Xifengkou. These are the key points for the Di people to move south, and they are also important passes for us to deploy our defenses."

Having said that, Yue Pengju looked up at Zhu Li. Beikou and Xifengkou were both under the jurisdiction of the Lulong Jiedushi. He could control the defense situation of these two passes.

However, Junduxing and Piantouzhai are located in Shuozhou, which is beyond his control.

Zhu Li naturally knew what he meant and said, "Jundu Xing is one of the eight Xings in Taihang Mountains, with mountains on both sides. I sent General Liang Zun to guard it. He is a Western Rong man, and he has nearly 3,000 Western Rong warriors under his command. There are 10,000 guards stationed at Jundu Xing, and we have a strong pass in our hands. Even if the Di people send half of their troops to guard it, they may not be able to take it."

"As for Piantou Fort, there is no need to worry about it." Zhu Li said confidently.

Not only was Piantou Fort guarded by Yang Zaixing himself and 6,000 guards, but there were also tens of thousands of horse bandits and cavalry led by Zhang Guihou in the Yinshan Mountains to provide support. As long as Yang Zaixing could hold off for a while, Zhang Guihou would take the opportunity to attack and kill the Di people from behind. If the Di people were not defeated by surprise, then something bad would happen.

Zhu Li's confident look seemed to put Yue Pengju at ease, and he continued, "Beikou will be guarded by 30,000 Zhenyuan troops sent by me personally. As for Xifengkou, it will be up to the Weiwu Army."

Yue Pengju looked at Gao Siji and Gao Mian and said meaningfully.

"General Yue, don't worry. General Kuangwei is at Xifengkou, and with 40,000 soldiers of the Mighty Army stationed at the pass, there shouldn't be any loss." Gao Siji knew what Yue Pengju meant, so he naturally spoke to encourage Li Kuangwei.

Forty miles away from Juyongguan, there are endless tents stationed here, which are the garrison tents of the Northern Di.

In the military tent, Yelu Xiadi sat high up on the commander's seat, and the others sat on both sides.

Yelu Xiadi looked gloomy and said in a dull voice, "Juyong Pass has always been difficult to attack. We have been attacking for several days, and have lost nearly ten thousand men, but we still haven't been able to move it at all. We originally hoped to challenge the enemy to boost morale, and then we could break through Juyong Pass in one go, but we didn't expect to be messed up by that governor of Shuozhou. What should we do now?"

"Brother Yelu Xiadi, why don't we divide our forces and carry out the raid?" Xi commander Xia Lago suggested.

"That's right. With an army of more than 200,000, the daily expenses for food and rations for horses are huge. Instead of wasting time here, it's better to divide the troops and attack." Bala, the Tuhun chieftain, also echoed.

Murong Ba, wrapped in a cloth, glanced at the two and said gloomily, "Divide the troops? Humph, Zhu Li is the governor of Shuozhou, but he dares to send reinforcements. This means that we don't need to worry about the two fortresses of Junduxing and Piantouzhai adjacent to Shuozhou. They must be heavily guarded."

"Since we can't take Juyong Pass, our only option is Xifengkou. The terrain at Xifengkou is uneven and not suitable for large-scale cavalry attacks. If we can't take Juyong Pass, Xifengkou may not be easy to break through."

Everyone frowned when they heard this.

This summer, a large-scale livestock epidemic broke out on the grasslands, killing many of them. This led to the various tribes moving south to plunder.

They had just captured Guizhou and were about to make a big move while marching southwards when they looked up and encountered Juyongguan blocking the road. Moreover, Juyongguan was now more difficult to pass than before.

Seeing everyone's gloomy faces, Yelu Shilu's eyes flashed with a cold light, and he said grimly: "In Guizhou, you should have looted a lot of Han slaves. If you are willing to hand them over, I have an idea. Maybe we can break through Juyongguan in one fell swoop?"

"Well, what's a good plan?" Yelu Shilu's words immediately attracted the attention of others.

If they could break through Juyong Pass and then rush into Lulong, they would be able to capture as many beautiful and shy Han beauties and strong and hardworking Han male slaves as they wanted.

The only condition was to hand over the slaves captured in Guizhou. In their view, as long as the strategy worked, it was not a big problem.

Yelu Shilu took in the expressions of the crowd and finally put his heart at ease. He said calmly, "It's very simple. Put these Han men and women in front of the siege army and drive them to attack the city. It depends on whether the Han generals and guards can bear to kill their own people."

"Drive the people to attack the city?" A hint of hesitation flashed across Yelu Xidi's eyes. Since ancient times, any general who dared to use this strategy would not have a good death, and the person would be infamous for thousands of years.

"Yes, the Han people have always prided themselves on being benevolent and magnanimous. Those guards standing on the city gates, claiming to protect the country and the people, are disgusting to hear. Don't they want to keep the people safe? Then see whether they will kill or not the people they are protecting?" Yelu Shilu glanced around at everyone sinisterly and spoke sinisterly.

In the general's tent, after a brief silence, Xi General Xia La Ge was the first to praise: "As expected of Dara Yuyue, this move is indeed cruel. If the Han people had the guts to kill their people with their own hands, given their character, they would probably have nightmares for the rest of their lives."

"That's right. If they can't do it, our warriors can mingle with them and attack the city together. Then it shouldn't be difficult to break through Juyong Pass." Tuhun chieftain Bala also echoed.