Xingyang Road, toward Li Pass.
The coalition forces hung the headless body for several days. The weather was bad during those days, with strong sun, rain and strong wind, but no one claimed it. When the commander of Chaoli Pass received the report from the scout, he was also wondering: "What are these people doing?"
Why hang a headless corpse for no reason
The subordinates speculated: "Is it to intimidate us?"
Upon hearing this, the commander of Chaoli Pass pulled up his face and sneered, "Who can be scared by this threat? Not to mention just hanging a headless corpse, even if they cleaned and skinned the corpse, fried it, and hung it out in pieces, there would be nothing to be afraid of."
The military advisor guarding the pass had a different guess: "Could it be that they suspect that the body was sent out by us?"
The commander of Chaoli Pass was silent for a while.
Ask the people below: "Did we send this person out?"
Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.
Many scouts were sent out, but they were all there to gather military intelligence, survey the battlefield, and monitor the coalition's movements. They did not go deep into the enemy's camp. Most of the scouts were warriors, and the corpse was obviously dressed as a scholar. If it was really one of their own who was hung on the wall, they would have made a scene long ago. How could they have only known about this today
The commander of Chaoli Pass was puzzled.
In the end, he sneered and put the matter behind him.
Outside Chaoli Pass, dozens of miles away.
Chen Tang climbed to the highest point near the coalition camp and looked out over Chaoli Pass. After a while, he felt something was a little strange. Xun Ding led his men to follow, following the master's line of sight. There seemed to be a towering shadow hidden behind the mist on the distant horizon.
"My lord, watch your step."
If I lean forward any further, I will roll down the mountain.
Chen Tang murmured: "Strange..."
Xun Ding asked with a sharp ear: "What's so strange?"
Chen Tang pointed at the shadow in the distance: "The mountains there are continuous, but they don't fit in with the flat terrain of Yanzhou. The small earth slope under our feet is only a little higher? If Yanzhou is compared to a human face, Chaoliguan is as abrupt as a pimple caused by inflammation."
And the pimples are connected in an orderly manner.
Divide Yanzhou into two.
Looking towards Li Pass, it seemed as if a god was holding a sword and split it in half.
It doesn't look like a natural formation at all.
Xun Ding asked back: "Is there?"
Chen Tang ignored Da'er.
His eyes passed him and fell on Xun Zhen who was accompanying him. Xun Zhen was well-informed and naturally much more reliable than his son.
He said, "Yanzhou originally had no natural barriers. This pass was steep and dangerous, but it was actually man-made. According to legend, more than 150 years ago, there was a 20th-rank marquis named Yan whose fiefdom was located here. He was successful, but his achievements also frightened his master. One day, he took his men out hunting and saw that Yanzhou was vast and stable. He felt that this place was 'easy to attack but difficult to defend'. Worried about the safety of his descendants, he artificially created a natural barrier. The common people nearby thought that the earth dragon had turned over, and they were terrified all night until dawn. When they came out, they saw continuous mountains that blocked out the sky. The 20th-rank marquis then used a sword to split a slit of sky through it, and carved the words 'Chao Li' on the cliff on one side. Seeing the masterpiece, he laughed and left gracefully."
"Man-made? Twenty-level Chehou?"
"It is said that this is the case, but it is mostly fabricated."
Chen Tang asked him, "Where is the fabrication?"
Xun Zhen said quietly, "A 20th-rank Chehou is indeed capable of building such a magnificent and dangerous pass, but even a 20th-rank Chehou is just a mortal body, and his martial energy is not enough to support the completion in one go. Not to mention one night, it would take even half a year."
After spending a long time with his lord, Xun Zhen knew what she was planning when he saw her sparkling eyes: "There are many artificial dangerous passes like Chaoli Pass in the whole continent, it's not rare. But the words carved on Chaoli Pass are quite attractive."
Some brave warriors would come to observe and learn.
It is said that there are still remnants of sword intent from twenty levels of Che Hou on it.
I hope to gain some understanding from the traces left by our predecessors.
When Xun Zhen said this, Chen Tang remembered something: "No wonder the map of the territory has to be redrawn every ten years."
Although not every Wudan warrior has the destructive power of a 20th-level Chehou, the fights are too many, too frequent, and too long. The original landforms have been iterated and updated countless times after more than two hundred years of war...
Xun Zhen smiled and said, "This is also one of the reasons."
Chen Tang went down the hill and came back to see Tao Yan leading a group of people back to the camp. The interesting thing is that where the two met, they could see the headless corpse hanging in the camp. Chen Tang asked, "Where are you coming back from, Mr. Tao?"
Tao Yan said: "Inspect the military forces in front of the battle."
Chen Tang then said, "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Tao."
Tao Yan sat on his horse and took a closer look at Chen Tang's face. He didn't know what he was thinking about. He responded perfunctorily and said that he had something to do and would leave first. On the way, he ran into Gu Chi who came out to "see the scenery" - this was Gu Chi's new hobby in recent days. He said that the location in front of the camp gate, watching the sunrise and sunset, was particularly tragic and magnificent...
However, Chen Tang knew that he just wanted to annoy his enemies.
The two passed each other.
Chen Tang was worried that Tao Yan would suddenly explode and hit Gu Chi, killing him with a knife, but fortunately this did not happen.
"These guys in the coalition are more cunning than the other." Seeing the corpse hanging there for so many days with no one paying attention to it, Chen Tang figured it out. It turned out that no one believed that the corpse belonged to Zheng Qiao's side, and they were eager to make a conclusion just to avoid trouble.
Prepare to muddy the matter up.
Just keep the surface calm.
Chen Tang didn't care, but Tao Yan felt uncomfortable.
Every day, he went in and out of the tent to see the body of his confidant hanging, but he couldn't jump out to take the blame, otherwise he would be an enemy of the entire coalition - what was his intention to send someone to assassinate the leader of a faction the day before? Tao Yan didn't dare to admit it, and he couldn't even take the risk of stealing the body out. In addition, everyone was making jokes, so he could only hold it in.
He held it in, and Gu Chi was happy.
Looking at Tao Yan's disappearing back, he sneered: "It is better to let my friend die than to let me die. It is possible that no one in the coalition knew that there was something fishy going on, but no one wanted to have any twists and turns at this critical moment, so Tao Shenyu, who failed to gain anything, could only bear the grievances."
He characterized the matter in a few words and put the blame on Zheng Qiao.
Anyway, Zheng Qiao is bad enough, so he doesn't have to worry about having too many lice.
After returning to the camp, Chen Tang received the letter presented by Jiang Sheng.
There is nothing else to say, just that there have been strong winds and thick fog recently.
Chen Tang knew what Jiang Sheng was worried about at a glance.
"Are you worried that the guards of Chaoli Pass will launch a surprise attack?" Chen Tang's group of idiots like to conduct night raids. They are very cautious when they go to the battlefield and are on guard against the enemy's sudden attack in the middle of the night. She said, "Okay, I'll go see the leader."
Her experience from various storybooks told her that the more she worried about something happening, the more likely it would happen, and she should not delay, let alone say things like "I'll tell the leader tomorrow." Because according to the routine, the enemy would come that night.
It was noon.
Huang Lie was very surprised to receive the news that Chen Tang wanted to see him.
Because this young county magistrate has been the center of gossip in recent days, some people are bored and are speculating which scholar County magistrate Shen is having an affair with. Even a person like Huang Lie who rarely goes out can't help but listen to it. He doesn't believe that County magistrate Shen doesn't know about it, and he can still run around. He is surprised: "Mr. Shen suddenly visited, what's the matter?"
Chen Tang said, "There is a scholar under my command who is good at observing the celestial phenomena. He said that the fog has been thick and the wind has been strong in the past few days. The enemy will make a move."
Huang Lie perked up when he heard that.
"Really? Can I meet that gentleman?"
Chen Tang said, "Of course, Xiandeng is waiting outside the tent."
Huang Lie: “…”
The word "xiandeng" sounded familiar to him.
When Jiang Sheng entered the account, Huang Lie found that this face was also familiar.
"Meet Alliance Leader Huang."
Huang Lie put away his expression and said, "Mr. Jiang, I haven't seen you for a long time. When we parted in Luxia County, I have always been thinking about you and worried about your safety. I never thought that you would become a disciple of the County Magistrate Shen..."
Jiang Sheng said nothing.
Huang Lie also realized that he had talked too much, so he turned the topic back on track: "Sir, you said that the troops from Chaoli Pass will launch a night attack?"
"The coalition camp is exposed everywhere, unlike Chaoli Pass, which has a dangerous pass and high mountains to rely on. If there is a night attack, I'm afraid it will be passive." Jiang Sheng is not a prophet, so how can he give a definite answer? But the coalition does need to be on guard, just in case.
Each family fought on their own.
Once the fog rises, won’t it be a mess
Huang Lie also began to take it seriously.
"Huang will send someone to inform each family about this matter."
Seeing that the message had been delivered, Chen Tang took Jiang Sheng away. The latter said, "After all, it is a patchwork coalition, not a whole. It is hard to say how many people will listen to it..."
“… There’s a saying that goes like this—the best way to save the coalition forces is to destroy them! If there really is a night attack, the coalition forces will completely give up their mentality of taking advantage of the situation. If we can’t win this battle, everyone will die!”
Jiang Sheng said he had never heard of it.
But there is some truth to it.
As the military construction in front of the battlefield was about to come to an end, the atmosphere in front of the battlefield became more intense, and the troops were mobilized frequently. Chen Tang ordered the night patrols under his command to expand the scope and frequency, and the handover orders were changed from every three days to every two days, but she was still in charge.
For example, the previous sentence is "There is no french fry at the dock", and the next sentence is meaningless, or "If the mission is not completed, everyone will die." In short, the password style is incompatible with the entire coalition, but the confidentiality performance is indeed first-class.
This was personally confirmed by the troops who attacked Chaoli Pass at night.
Chaoli Pass is one of the artificial dangerous passes. To outsiders who are not familiar with it, the weather here is unpredictable and more changeable than a child's face. However, few people know that there is a private warehouse inside the pass, which is dedicated to storing daily weather records. Experienced soldiers guarding the pass have already figured out the rules. On the other hand, the location where the coalition camp is stationed is flat and has no shelter on all sides, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage.
The advantage is that the enemy will be discovered immediately if they want to launch a sneak attack, but the disadvantage is that once the enemy's sneak attack is established, the impact will be great. The coalition's visual advantage will be completely lost under the thick fog. Because the vision is blocked, the fog will become the enemy's best natural cover. The commander of Chaoli Pass also knew the pressure of guarding the pass this time. At the suggestion of the military advisor, he took advantage of the fact that the coalition's military project had not yet been completely completed, and launched a night attack to dampen morale.
The sneak attack was divided into three routes.
They are all relatively weakly guarded forces among the coalition forces.
Chen Tang’s camp was clearly visible on the list.
It's not that her camp was unstable, it was simply because she joined last, the camp was relatively close to the edge, and the allies in the nearby coalition were just a few rookies. In the eyes of the Chaoliguan troops, this place could be torn open!
The moon is waning and the moonlight is dim.
It was dark and foggy.
It was a time when I was feeling very sleepy and saw a figure in the black fog.
When they got closer, they realized they were their own soldiers.
The two teams exchanged commands and smoothly handed over. The soldiers on duty patrolled "diligently", crossed a military obstacle area, and headed for the rear of the camp. The speed was very slow at first, but after a few breaths, an inconspicuous dark light appeared on the feet and legs of the people and horses, and the speed suddenly increased, as if they were about to merge into the fog, and drifted past like a hazy green smoke.
It was less than fifty feet away from the camp.
The guard in the watchtower noticed that there was an inconspicuous object moving in the darkness. Before he could see what it was, he heard a buzzing sound, felt a chill on his forehead, and warm blood flowed from his brows into his eye sockets. He lost his balance and fell forward, falling to the ground from a height. In the short moment of falling, he seemed to see something falling from the nearby watchtower.
And then...
He vaguely saw the sound of horse hooves passing before him.
Until my hands and feet became cold and I completely lost consciousness.
at the same time-
"The people in front, stop and give the command."
The troops who were ordered no longer moved forward.
The patrol leader uttered the last sentence of the command.
“A marina without chips.”
The leader on the opposite side: "..."
After a breath, the other party replied: "It's meaningless."
The high-intensity and high-frequency patrols made the night patrol team a little exhausted. They were really sleepy at the moment. When they heard the next sentence of the command, they were a little confused. They yawned to judge that the other party's answer was correct.
But the yawn stopped abruptly halfway.
The hair on his back stood up.
In an instant, the night patrol team woke up.
Why
Because this set of passwords was from the day before yesterday, and today's new password has changed the second half of the sentence, the correct answer should be "Can't attract Ma Ou!" The passwords can't be matched blindly, because even if one of us doesn't match, it can cost lives. In other words -
The enemy is on the other side.
In order not to alert the enemy, she said, "Pass!"
As he spoke, he waited for the other party to come forward and hand over the shift.
When I got closer, I was surprised to find that it was a familiar face.
At that moment, countless thoughts flashed through her mind.
Isn't it an enemy
Did you really mix up the passwords
Should we let the person go
The answer is, of course, no!
Just as the two columns of soldiers were about to pass each other, a flash of martial energy flashed in the patrol leader's hand, and a long halberd shot out like lightning, aiming directly at the head of the other team leader. As soon as she made a move, the other soldiers followed suit and drew their swords to surround her.
bite-
The other party didn't expect this to happen.
But his instinct as a warrior allowed him to dodge the attack.
Immediately afterwards, the halberd was retracted, and the tip of the halberd was hooked at his neck. He had to lean back and use his saber to knock it off. He had no time to think about when he was exposed, so he could only kill the night patrol soldiers to avoid alerting the enemy. Unexpectedly, the man who made the move was not a simple man. Although his martial energy was weak, his skills were very handsome.
"Shoot arrows for help!"
Although the enemy would not come out in full force, the scale of the night attack was not something that their small group of soldiers could withstand. For now, they could only delay as much as possible, fighting and retreating, waiting for reinforcements. Of course, there was also the possibility that they would die before reinforcements arrived.
Yang Ying started cursing in his heart.
What kind of bad luck is this