Catching Monsters

Chapter 259 Time is too tight

"Dispatch 5,000 men to the rear of Jianchi Pass."

“Everything must be prepared for the worst.”

Xu Xiaogang pointed to an area behind Jianchi Pass on the map. Upon hearing this, Jiang Yubo nodded repeatedly and quickly turned and left.

At the same time, battle reports from Jianchi Pass continued to arrive, and all the news were good news.

It was simply a dark and windy night, and the troops sent by the Hu people to attack Jianchi Pass suffered heavy losses. I'm afraid thousands of people had died, and they hadn't even climbed the first city wall yet.

On the Zhenchi Army side, only a few dozen people were killed or injured, all of whom were injured by the enemy's arrows.

This further increased Xu Xiaogang's sense of uneasiness.

My father would not give such an order for no reason, there must be other reasons.

There are high mountains on both sides of Jianchi Pass. At the foot of a mountain, there is a desolate and deserted weed patch.

Behind the countless weeds, there was actually a cave. Soon, a Hu soldier came out of the cave first, followed by an endless stream of Hu soldiers.

This is an underground cave that runs straight from north to south.

In the narrowest places, only one person can pass. These Hu soldiers are the most elite soldiers of the Wanyan tribe, and many of them have practiced martial arts.

The best of the best.

There were a total of five hundred people.

The leading Hu man identified the direction, pointed to Jianchi Pass, and said in a deep voice: "Hurry! We must rush to Jianchi Pass before dawn to attack from both sides."

These Hu people only carried a small amount of dry food and traveled lightly, without bringing any horses.

At this time, head towards Jianchi Pass as fast as possible.

On the first city wall of Jianchi Pass, the person guarding the place was named Xiang Anyi, about thirty years old, and a captain of the Zhenchi Army.

He was constantly commanding his men to stop the Hu enemy forces.

"Master Qianhu, the offensive of these Hu people is getting weaker and weaker."

His men rushed to his side, with a smile on their faces, and said, "It shouldn't be long before the troops retreat."

The soldiers of the border troops have dealt with the Hu people many times.

This was not the first or second time that the Hu people attacked Jianchi Pass.

Often the first few times are tentative attacks, followed by a fierce attack later.

Xiang Anyi stood on the top of the city wall and looked down. He saw corpses all over the ground, blood all over the ground, charred bodies mixed with a bad smell filling the city wall.

Most of those who came to attack were slave cannon fodder, and the real elite had not yet moved.

I glanced at the sky and it was almost dawn.

When it gets daybreak, we can change guard and other thousand households will come with their men to take over.

Suddenly, Xiang Anyi noticed that something was wrong in the Hu army formation. Many Hu soldiers wearing leather armor had gathered and were rushing towards Jianchi Pass.

"Everyone, pay attention..." Xiang Anyi was just about to give an order when suddenly there was a loud sound of fighting from behind.

"what happened?"

Xiang Anyi was slightly startled, and looked towards the back of Jianchi Pass. Not long after, a soldier came quickly from the back and reported in panic: "Captain Xiang, a large number of Hu soldiers suddenly appeared behind us and are attacking us. They should be coming soon."

Xiang Anyi's face changed, and he said hurriedly: "How could there be Hu soldiers behind us? How many are there?"

"I don't know. It's too dark. There are Hu soldiers everywhere. They kill anyone they see. Our people can't stop them at all."

"Send a signal! Call for help." Xiang Anyi said hurriedly.

Soon, a firework was taken out from the city wall and shot into the sky.

boom!
A red firework exploded in the sky.

This is a signal that Jianchi Pass is about to fall, and it will only be issued when the military situation is most urgent.

When Jianchi Pass was designed, no one had ever thought about the situation of being trapped from the front and back. There was no defensive attack from the rear at all, not to mention that the attack from behind was extremely fast.

After learning that there were a large number of Hu soldiers in the rear.

A thousand soldiers were instantly panicked.

Xiang Anyi's face darkened and he shouted loudly: "Everyone calm down! Resist the barbarians head-on!"

"Don't mess up! Don't mess up!"

But soon, Hu soldiers rushed up from behind, and under the attack from both sides, soldiers kept falling in a pool of blood.

Xiang Anyi held a long sword and kept swinging it, killing the Hu people who rushed up to the city wall.

His strength was not bad, he was a sixth-rank martial arts master, and more than a dozen barbarians could hardly get close to him.

At this moment, an old woman slowly climbed up the siege ladder. The old woman had white hair and looked out of place among the large number of Hu soldiers.

After the city tower was captured and the God-killing Crossbow could no longer be used, she dared to show up.

Her eyes were cold. She saw that Xiang Anyi, who was being besieged, was the highest-ranking official here. In the blink of an eye, several silver needles suddenly shot out and quickly pierced into Xiang Anyi's knees, elbows and other joints.

In an instant, Xiang Anyi was trapped and unable to move.

Then, Xiang Anyi was killed tragically by a hail of knives.

Soon, Master Wanyan also climbed up the tower of Jianchi Pass. With a smile on his face, he said loudly, "I didn't expect that Jianchi Pass, which has been a barrier for us Northern Hu for many years, could be broken so easily."

"Hahahaha, Xu Dingwu, when we get back, I'll let the Khan credit you for the first achievement!"

Xu Dingwu, who followed him up the city wall, had a blank expression on his face and a complicated look in his eyes. He then took a deep breath and said, "Let our army pass through Jianchi Pass quickly."

…“Report!”

"The Sword Pond Pass has been breached!"

Xu Xiaogang was sitting in the study when the door was pushed open by a messenger.

The messenger said nervously, "General, Jianchi Pass has been breached."

Xu Xiaogang's face darkened, and he asked in an unpleasant manner: "How was it broken?"

"Jian, a large number of unknown elite Hu people suddenly appeared behind Jianchi Pass, attacking from both sides..."

Xu Xiaogang frowned and asked unhappily, "Where is General Jiang? Didn't I ask him to dispatch 5,000 troops to help?"

"Not in time." The messenger said in a deep voice, "Before they arrived, Jianchi Pass was breached."

"General Jiang is now leading 5,000 troops outside Jianchi Pass..."

Xu Xiaogang took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Tell him to come back quickly."

There is no strategic location to defend inside Jianchi Pass, and five thousand men cannot withstand the charge of the Hu cavalry.

"Yes."

Xu Xiaogang took a deep breath and quickly spread out the map, wondering where the Hu soldiers who were attacking Jianchi Pass came from.

But now is not the time to think about this.

We have to follow the next step of the plan.

Just defend Mushan City to the death.

There are nearly 150,000 defenders in Mushan City.

The Northern Hu only have 200,000 troops, so he still has a huge advantage.

Afterwards, Xu Xiaogang called the messenger and said:
"Order the 30,000 soldiers of the Zhennan Military Command to leave the city immediately and set up camp 20 miles south of the city, ready to be deployed at any time."

"According to the plan, we will defend the east, south, and west sides, leaving the north wall for the Hu people to attack."

"The 30,000 men of the Zhenbei Army will stay in the city as support..."

"..."

Soon, the messenger wrote down the orders, turned around and left quickly, and Xu Xiaogang walked back and forth.

With 150,000 people defending the city, it would take at least three times more troops than our own to capture it.

Although there are many changing factors on the battlefield, the ratio is roughly like this.

There were even cases where the defenders were determined enough to resist an enemy force that was five or ten times their own.

But the prerequisite is that there must be enough food!
Now, the grain in the granary can only last for eight to nine days at most.

But it is impossible for the Hu army to retreat after only eight or nine days of siege.

If the enemy surrounded the city without attacking, the defenders in the city would starve to death.

He took a deep breath and hurried to the yard where Linglong was. When he arrived outside the yard, he was a little surprised to find that there was a small bed outside the yard.

The military inspector Liu Muyun was sleeping outside the yard.

Although it is spring, the nights are still extremely cold.

Hearing the footsteps, Liu Muyun quickly opened his eyes, rubbed his eyes, stood up and said, "General Xu, what are you doing? Why aren't you sleeping so late at night?"

"Liu Jianjun, why are you here? Didn't I arrange a house for you to rest in?"

Liu Muyun rolled his eyes at Xu Xiaogang, tightened his clothes, and felt uncomfortable from the cold. He said, "The master sleeps so poorly, how can a servant like me sleep in a mansion? Otherwise, is there any rule?"

Xu Xiaogang was slightly stunned, his lips moved slightly, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, otherwise why would it be said that these eunuchs were deeply loved by the royal family...

Liu Muyun is indeed not good at fighting, but kneeling down and licking his master is something that ordinary people cannot do.

Xu Xiaogang said, "I have something important to do. I want to see Miss Linglong."

"You called her Miss Linglong? You should call her Princess." Liu Muyun was a little unhappy, and then said, "Wait, it's still dawn, the master may not be awake yet."

"If we don't get up now, it will be too late when Mushan City is surrounded." Xu Xiaogang said in a deep voice.

"What?" Liu Muyun was stunned.

Xu Xiaogang said: "Jianchi Pass has been breached."

After hearing this, the door opened quickly. Linglong, wearing a thick white fleece, frowned and asked, "Has Jianchi Pass been breached?"

"Well done, Xu Xiaogang." Liu Muyun's face changed drastically, pointing at Xu Xiaogang, and said, "I said that you are so young and have no skills, but the impregnable Jianchi Pass was captured by the Hu people in less than a day."

"Your Majesty shouldn't have allowed you to take charge of this place in the first place."

Linglong glanced at Liu Muyun and said, "Okay, shut up."

"Yes, yes, yes." Upon hearing this, Liu Muyun hurriedly resumed his servant's appearance.

Jiang Yun was also disturbed by the noise outside the house. He had not gone to bed yet and had been meditating and practicing. When he pushed open the door and came out, he was a little surprised.

"What happened was that a group of unknown Hu soldiers suddenly appeared and attacked from both sides. Jianchi Pass was quickly breached."

"Of course, there is no problem with Mushan City for the time being. We can hold on for eight to nine days without any harm."

"It's just..." Xu Xiaogang took a deep breath and looked at Jiang Yun and Linglong: "You two must leave this place as soon as possible and go back to the capital. Find a way to get a force of no less than 50,000 people to support you within nine days."

"Nine days?" Linglong frowned, "The time is too tight."

(End of this chapter)