C75

"As General Huo had said, if the enemy had joined forces to seek wealth and lost the initiative, they would rarely have continued to carry out their plan. There is also no reason for them to continue to pester the enemy even though they know they could not win the battle! There can only be one reason for this. Their goal is definitely not just to seek wealth, but to consume us to the greatest extent! What was the reason for them to be willing to sacrifice themselves like that? The answer should only be one, and that was that there was someone behind the scenes forcing them to do so! This person must have a powerful ability to make these tribes surrender and fight with their lives on the line! No matter who this person is, now that the steps to exhaust us have been completed, our real enemies will go on stage! "

All of their expressions were solemn. From Zhang Zhou's simple and straightforward conjecture, everyone could sense that danger was approaching! Zhao Qieshi took two deep breaths, calmed down a little, and habitually looked at Zhang Zhou.

"Then what should we do?"

Zhang Zhou had already thought about it, and said directly: "I guess the enemy's main force wouldn't be that many people, otherwise they wouldn't need to waste so much time and effort to force those tribes to consume us!" Therefore, as long as we use it correctly, winning shouldn't be a problem! But we can't go head to head with them. Even if we win in a head on fight, we won't be able to handle the consequences! "

Huo Xiaoyun was an offensive general who was not good at defense. He also approved of Zhang Zhou's idea. Previously, Zhang Zhou had decisively sent out reinforcements, allowing him to achieve great victory in a short period of time. He was a martial artist, but not a boor, and not a fool who wouldn't let go of his rights. "Does Master Hou have a plan?

Zhang Zhou thought for a while and nodded. Huo Xiaoyun clasped his hands.

"Your Lordship can instruct me as you wish!" This lowly general will definitely give you his utmost support! "

Zhang Zhou nodded his head in thanks for Huo Xiaoyun's trust. Then, he looked at Zhao Qisheng, who firmly said, "You just need to give the order. Kill anyone who disobeys your orders!"

Zhang Zhou also felt that now was not the time to be modest and bashful. Battlefield handling required unity of thought and action.

"If we can't fight him head on, we won't be able to escape!" Then we can only engage in a defensive battle! "

Raising his head to observe his surroundings, he pointed to the protruding mountain slope to the east of the valley and said, "This is the position that we want to hold!"

The first one to You Nan seven said: "Go inform the torture camp, let Liu Manzhou and the Black Tiger Camp take charge of moving all the transport vehicles into the valley, do not get near the valley entrance, be on guard against ambushes on both sides, and then seal the passage and take responsibility for defending the other side, in case the enemy attacks from the other side! And tell Chen Chaoying to choose some strong men, put on the armor of the dead and wounded, and come to me immediately! Remember to call Guan Xiaolou over too! "

"General Huo, immediately arrange some people to gather some civilians. Starting from this area, dig a foot-deep hole for me. Don't emphasize the quality. There must be more of them!"

With that, he pointed at the hillside and said, "The rest of you, open up a platform that is five Zhang long and three Zhang wide for me! Don't get too far away from the bottom of the mountain. A trench was dug out from the left and right for the soldiers to defend against! You have to be fast! "

Huo Xiaoyun immediately called two field officers over and instructed them urgently.

He then called for Yang Xiaolang and gave him an order. Yang Xiaolang then turned around and left! He then had Erniu find a carriage and tear it down, trying his best to get as much complete wood as possible …

After issuing a series of orders, he finally said to Zhao Qizhi, "Your Highness, you must stay by the princess's side. Only you, the princess, and Iron River will not make all our efforts in vain. "With me here, you can rest assured, Your Highness!"

Zhao Qishui knew there was no point in speaking any further. Instead, he just added fuel to the fire, left two bodyguards behind for Zhang Zhou, said "Take care!" and left in a hurry!

Soon, Guan Xiaolou arrived. Zhang Zhou didn't even give him time to catch his breath as he whispered to him. At the same time, he pointed at the horse carriage that Erniu had destroyed. Guan Xiaolou nodded and ran over!

Chen Chaoyin rushed over. After clarifying the mission, he led more than a hundred armored men away. He gathered a large number of war horses and left!

It was a matter of life and death. The military order was like a mountain, who would dare to be lazy?

Zhang Zhou personally oversaw the construction of the half-way platform and the fortification at the mountainside. The wall was arranged in a row with the mouth of the valley, forming an angle slightly larger than the right angle, which could be used to help each other. During the process, he communicated with Huo Xiaoyun about some matters and added some additional information.

Erniu, You Nan and himself also put on the armor that they brought with them. The arrest was done without armor, so Zhang Zhou had prepared his own set for this trip! This was custom-made by the craftsmen of the Nine Prefectures. It was simpler for the two oxen, who used leather chains to tie together large pieces of steel plates to protect the vital parts of their bodies. The helmet was extremely special. It was a double-horned bull head steel helmet that Zhang Zhou had specially made for him due to his bad taste. Zhang Zhou's armor imitated the style of an ordinary field officer. After all, the Tang Dynasty had strict rules on what officers and armors to wear. Even if they had the strength, they wouldn't dare to show off, so he didn't want to cause trouble in this regard! But the nail piece is all color steel material, do not want fancy, but want to be effective. The biggest difference between helmets and helmets is that they have a buffering net made from cowhide, which is more comfortable and has better defensive effects! Yunan's armor was similar to Zhang Zhou's, but the size of his armor was a few sizes too large!

When they moved the simple catapults that were assembled from the small buildings to the platform, they received a report from the scouts. They discovered that a large troop of cavalry was approaching. There were about four thousand people in it!

The most obvious difference this time was that the enemy were armored soldiers. To put it bluntly, they were the regular army, not the mountain tribe cavalry! But armor was not the Tang style! It was the common leather armor of the Great Sea Prairie! The other side was the Grassland Cavalry!

This meant that Sima Guangye's intelligence was wrong, or it could be said to be a lie. The grasslands forces didn't have a vague intention to go south, but they had already gone south! According to Mei Changqing's intelligence, anyone with over a thousand armored cavalry could be counted as a big shot on the prairie. The strength of four thousand soldiers was definitely a big shot on the prairie, and they represented the main forces of the prairie! Their main force had already reached the bottom of the Heaven Realm Mountain, was that still considered as an intention?

Zhang Zhou ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle as he stood on the flat slope, pondering if he had left anything out of his plan. He had never commanded a battle before. If it weren't for the knowledge and experience he had accumulated in his previous life, and the courage he had before facing the enemy, his legs probably would've gone soft at this moment. It was fake that he was not nervous, but a sense of excitement welled up from the bottom of his heart. He could feel every nerve in his body speeding up, and his mind seemed to have an indescribable calmness.

His gaze slowly fell upon the area where the fierce battle was about to take place. The pit on the ground had already been filled up with withered grass, and there were no obvious marks left behind! There were more than a thousand of them who were on the defensive, but all of them had abandoned the war of horse stance. At the mouth of the valley, four hundred people were being led by Huo Xiaoyun. The main body of the defense was made up of the wall of the carriage. On the hillside, a boat was leading six hundred people. Since there weren't many big shields with them, they were all concentrated around the platform. Therefore, these Imperial Guards could only use light shields as personal defenses. He had arranged an ambush in the back mountain to prevent the enemy from taking a detour and attacking from the back.

In the middle of the group, there was a man wearing a colorful fox fur coat who should be the leader. After a few gestures, he divided out a team of about a thousand men, and after a simple formation, he rushed towards the mouth of the valley and the mountain slope. The battle had begun!

Those pits had all been dug since the beginning of the fight. If one wanted to use the bow and arrow, one had to enter the pit's range. As expected, the cavalry had long taken out their bows and planned to close in on the target before launching a volley attack. Unfortunately, from the moment they stepped into the pit area, horses kept tripping over them. Because the pit was narrow, the horses' front hooves would be broken if they were pulled out in time. Occasionally, this would happen, but it quickly spread to a large area of the city. When the people in the front realized that something was wrong, the cavalry behind them started to crowd around in a mess. The reason why they chose this hillside was because archery was in the wind and the valley was in the wind. Although it would make the arrows miss, but such a large-scale battle was more important! Very soon, the first round of the enemy's attack ended in failure. Although the enemy had only lost seventy to eighty horses and a few men, thus the casualties were not great, but those warhorses that were either dead or injured had become an obstacle in the charge of the enemy's cavalry!

The leader muttered a few words to the person beside him and waved his hand again, clearly understanding how to change the situation. More than a thousand people dismounted, and formed a formation with their shields and sabers as they advanced, forming a dense shield wall in front. When the person in the middle reached the distance between the bow and arrow, he began to fire at the forbidden army defending! There were also many people who began to deal with the dead and wounded, looking for holes to fill in the holes. Clearly, they were clearing the way for the attack from behind!

When the distance was about right, Zhang Zhou ordered the catapult to be activated. The ability of Guan Xiao Lou was not for nothing. The sea entrance that he had boasted of had been verified: a carriage could assemble two catapults at a distance of one arrow! He did it, but Zhang Zhou didn't have the energy to praise him. What he threw wasn't rocks, but packets of white lime. The middle of the bag had been cut open by the knife, and as he flew, he began to spill a large amount of white lime. Two simple catapults, the frequency was extremely fast. In one breath, dozens of bags of white lime were thrown, and one of the catapults was broken on the spot. Soon the lime, in the wind and trampling, became a smoky white world at the mouth of the valley, enclosing the thousand-man army. White lime caused great damage to the eyes and respiratory tract. The infantry troops quickly fell into chaos. In the vast expanse of white, only those who had been shot down had the strength to retaliate. Zhang Zhou ordered his men to beat the drums and fight. More than a hundred people from the Imperial Guard were shouting, but no one really rushed out, whether it was shouting or shooting arrows! And then another hundred people followed, until a thousand of them started shouting and fighting! From time to time, someone would be shot and scream, and with the loud shouts coming from the direction of the battle, it created an illusion that the enemy was closing in on them from far away, a panic that they did not understand the situation, which quickly gave rise to fear, causing the situation to become even more out of control, causing the people in the front to take the lead and flee. A large portion of them were pushed back by the people in front of them, unable to turn around in time, and could only stomp on the ground, some even started to directly use the blades in their hands to block everything that was on their way out. The flying white lime had already blown all the way to the team at the back. The team also began to harass them, and the entire formation began to show signs of loosening! Huo Xiaoyun, who was standing on the other side of the hill, looked at Zhang Zhou anxiously and saw him shaking his head at him. No one saw that Zhang Zhou had almost squeezed the flagpole out of his hand, but he still didn't raise it! Because he had no confidence that he could defeat the enemy with a single charge! He had to wait until the opportunity to defeat the enemy came, because he would be affected by the impact of the white ashes if he rushed over there. He had to wait until the opportunity to defeat the enemy presented itself in front of him.

The enemy leader decisively gave the order to kill those who tried to rush towards the cavalry, in order to prevent them from being affected! Under the constant shouting and scolding from the supervising troops, the retreating infantry soldiers were finally able to recover their composure after being beheaded by dozens of panicking people! Unfortunately, there was no suitable treatment on the battlefield, and those who did not know the depth of the treatment chose to use water to wash the water. The result was obvious, this time the enemy had left more than 200 corpses, but more than 400 people had their eyes injured, and they could not fight again!

Finally, the smoke dissipated. Because the enemy's team didn't face the wind directly and was only affected by the wind, there wasn't any chaos. In addition, the leader's cold and decisive punishment allowed the troops to escape this calamity.

An abnormal scene occurred on the battlefield, as if it was a logical calm! At this moment, most of the pits at the foot of the mountain had been filled or blocked by corpses!

The enemy had no intention of retreating!

When the lime was almost blown away, the enemy's infantry unit gathered their troops and charged forward again! This time, all the archers had abandoned their bows and arrows, covered their faces with a cloth, and covered their noses and mouths to prevent the use of the lime. The people in the middle raised their shields above their heads, and Zhang Zhou did not order them to throw the lime bags.

The bow and arrow were not much of a threat to the Shield Wall! They could only watch as the enemy advanced step by step. When the enemies came closer and prepared to charge, the forbidding army with defense was the first to react. There were more than a hundred jars of Hezhou Lie, and they were even wrapped with flammable rags, thrown into the enemy's formation, causing the battlefield to be filled with the aroma of wine in the blink of an eye. Following which were countless oiled feathered arrows that came flying after being ignited. In a flash, they ignited countless balls of fire, and those with alcohol on their bodies were set ablaze! A piece of cloth soaked in wine was ignited and quickly became a sea of fire in the middle of the crowd! Miserable screams rang out. The number of people who were truly burned was only around one hundred and eighty. However, the resulting panic was even greater than the last time! Those who had not been hit by the fire and wanted to avoid the fire source with all their might howled and scattered in panic. In order to protect their lives, they had to push and shove their way through without even caring about the direction. Many of them had even escaped to the front of the Imperial Guards and were shot and killed by them before they could recover from their shock …

Regardless of friend or foe, the scene was tragic. For an enemy that was twisted like a fireball, directly killing him was a form of kindness!

This time, they had killed more than 500 people! It wasn't that the team of riders at the back didn't want to come forward, but those jumping fire men scared the horses and made them retreat, so how could they save them? In order to protect the safety of this formation, they had been shot down by their own people far more than last time.

They had not even clashed, yet they had already lost more than a thousand people's combat strength! The battlefield once again fell into a deathly silence. The enemy leader finally could not hold back the rage in his heart. He pulled out the dagger at his waist, which was like a crescent moon. He could not hear what was being said clearly, but the people behind him started to echo, obviously trying to boost their morale. In the end, everyone dismounted and did something similar to praying. Then, they all mounted their horses and drew their swords, preparing for the final charge!

At this moment, the sound of battle came from behind Zhang Zhou. All the Imperial Guards were stunned. Zhang Zhou also tensed up. It seemed that the 'cunning' enemy had arrived at the end of the tunnel. At this time, they definitely could not let their morale waver! Then he shouted loudly!

"Soldiers, your enemies are right in front of you. Please pass your backs to your comrades! Long live the Tang! Long live the Imperial Guard! A bloody battle to the end! Fight! Fight! "Fight!"

Zhang Zhou's shout echoed around the valley, and everyone could hear him! Huo Xiaoyun also raised his knife and shouted! "Fight!"

The thousand people followed suit and shouted in unison! "Fight!"

This was the aura! This was confidence!

The enemy lost their patience and began to attack amidst the waves of howls and shouts!

Zhang Zhou knew that the final moment had arrived. He handed the red flag to the nervous Guan Xiaolou and said, "Listen to my command. Raise the red flag!"

Guan Xiaolou nodded and said, "Don't worry, Brother-in-law!"

Zhang Zhou faintly smiled and said to the two guards, "I will entrust the safety of my brother-in-law to you two!"

The two nodded in agreement! He used three big shields to protect Guan Xiaolou, one on the left and one on the right. He was ready for battle!

Zhang Zhou pulled out his saber from his waist and replaced it with a long handle. He turned it into a two-handed saber and looked at the approaching enemy! He thought to himself: Xiao Qi, you have to hold it back!

The arrows from both sides had begun to take their lives! It was still okay on the hillside. After all, the horses couldn't reach the mountain, so the Imperial Guards could still be at ease against the enemy. How could they have the time to complain? As they got up and began fighting, the two sides madly shot arrows at each other through the walls of the carriage, and many of the imperial guards now had a weapon in their hands, a white pole throwing gun. At this distance, throwing a gun was much better than shooting a bow and arrow, and those who got close to the wall were instantly killed countless times! Even so, there was still an unending stream of enemies jumping onto the horse carriage. There were even some fierce ones directly jumping over the wall and into the Imperial Guards …

Both sides used the wall as the boundary and engaged in a close combat. The later enemies simply abandoned their horses and stepped on the corpses in front of them to attack. Although the Imperial Guards had the advantage of defense, the situation was extremely serious!

The only catapults, began to throw lime in the middle of the enemy lines, using the smoke to greatly reduce the enemy's long-range archers' shooting ability!

But the fox fur coat man obviously noticed this and felt that Zhang Zhou must be the main character on the platform. Under the command of his commander, the platform became the main focus of his attacks. Although they were protected by shields, within a short period of time, the number of people on the platform numbered more than ten. A few high-leveled martial artists were standing on the periphery with shields in hand, waving their weapons to block most of the arrows. They were only able to alleviate the crisis after they were close to throwing a dozen lime bags.

The huge shield in front of the platform was half-buried in the ground, blocking the Guardian's attack to maintain the advantage of the ground, but because the corpse horses were piling up at an alarming speed, the advantage of the land was quickly reduced. The group of enemies dismounted and rushed up, and more and more of the large shield buried here was torn to pieces! Erniu, who was standing at the front of the platform, looked extremely valiant. Four arrows had been shot from his body. If it were not for the steel armor, he would have been a hedgehog with a hideous cut on his cheek. The two mace danced as if they were flying. The more they killed, the more brave they became. Enemies that came too close were all smashed away, standing on their own without retreating a single step!

Within the circular trench, the battle began. From time to time, people would be cut down, shot down, or even dragged down by the enemy … The scene was extremely tragic!

At this moment, Zhang Zhou had no time for pity. He was very excited, but his mind was unusually calm. At the beginning, he kept using his shield to block more arrows for Erniu, occasionally chopping off fish that escaped the net with his mace! However, after one of the Imperial Guard field officers fell, he immediately took up his position and began to engage the enemy in close combat. Under Zhang Zhou's saber, the leather armor did not provide any form of protection. A long saber was used by Zhang Zhou without a shred of hesitation, and the saber was deadly. The fierceness of the master and the servant also stimulated the fierceness of the enemy. Soon, Zhang Zhou and Erniu were drenched in blood!

He could clearly hear the sound of the arrows piercing through the air as they were shot down with the saber. He could keenly sense the danger that was coming from somewhere, and sure enough, he took out his saber and killed his opponent first. He entered into a state where he was like a fish in water.

If the main general did not retreat during the bloody battle, the soldiers would naturally risk their lives! Both sides were killing until their eyes turned red!

The true battle was being fought at the entrance of the Heaven Realm Valley. Two to three thousand enemies were rushing at the defensive line like a torrent. Once they passed through, everything would be obliterated!

The white pole lance flying at the entrance of the valley had long been exhausted. Huo Xiaoyun and the Duke of Ping's guards, who had come to reinforce her, were already standing at the front line leading the slaughter. The situation was precarious!

Zhang Zhou had already forgotten about everything else as he was completely numb to his death. Suddenly, someone shouted from behind him.

"Master, look over there!"

Only then did Zhang Zhou raise his head and realize that there was dust flying behind the enemy troops, and the sound of horses galloping was loud, as if there was a large number of troops galloping over. Looking at the red flag from afar, it was extremely eye-catching, and Zhang Zhou shouted excitedly: "Lift the flag! Brothers! The reinforcements are here, kill them for me! "

Guan Xiaolou hurriedly raised the red flag! Huo Xiaoyun finally saw the red flag. With a "Ao" sound, he jumped onto the wall and cut down two people. He shouted as he charged and the morale of the Imperial Guard was greatly shaken! Retreat! The flowery fox fur coat commanding from the back also noticed the dust flying behind him. The thundering sound of horse hooves could be heard, and he couldn't help but feel fear! At this moment, close to a hundred "blood men" rushed out from the back of the mountain. They roared like bloodthirsty ghosts as they sprinted down the hill, killing their way into the group of enemies. The leader of the group was none other than You Nan seven. The rest of the Imperial Guards who were called back by Yang Xiaolang also rushed back in time. They took advantage of the strong wind to attack the enemy camp as arrows rained down on them, causing the entire troop to scream miserably. "Retreat!" The fox fur coat shouted and took the lead to retreat. Sensing that something was wrong, the enemies panicked. Together with Zhang Zhou, You Nan, and Huo Xiaoyun, they led the army in a frenzied counterattack and instantly collapsed!

The group of people who were fortunate enough to take the initiative to escape followed Flower Fox fur coat and desperately urged their horses to retreat. However, they didn't expect to encounter an ambush. The only way out was to pass through an area full of inverted wooden spears that blocked their way, making it impossible to pass through. Very quickly, the group of fox fur coat people crowded together, getting more and more crowded. At this moment, more than one hundred and eighty soldiers rushed out from behind a hillside. The javelins in their hands were so far away and accurate that it was almost impossible to miss! The packed horsemen of the prairie were like a nest of hamsters, unable to put up even the slightest bit of resistance, allowing their flying spears to pierce through and slay them as they pleased! There was no way forward, no way back, the general was already dead. This group of people had experienced the last battle, and it was also the biggest battle of the entire group. After trampling on each other's feet, they completely gave up fighting and ran away in all directions, so slow that they could only accept the fate of being slaughtered like vegetables!

As the sun approached the west, the battles on the battlefield finally came to an end! Erniu, who was injured over 20 times, could no longer stand. He was carried back by several soldiers. There were many injuries on You Nan seven's body, so he was fine. Zhang Zhou, on the other hand, was lying down on a mound of earth, gasping for breath as he felt his heart beat like a drum! Chen Chaoyin squatted beside him and checked his pulse. After seeing that all the wounds on his body were fine, he said with relief, "My lord, you have given me too many surprises! I didn't lose face for you. The head of the enemy was killed! He even caught a few spies! There should not be more than two hundred people who escaped! "

Zhang Zhou sighed, "So commanding a battle is so tiring!" Don't spread this matter, it's very embarrassing! "

Chen Chao Ying laughed out loud when he heard this! He felt great!