Chapter 531- Fierce Battle at Guiping Pass
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
11th month, 22nd day, morning, Guiping Pass.
Under the morning sun, eighty thousand alliance army troops marched uphill and proceeded forward confidently.
In front of Guiping Pass was a long and narrow path, twisting and turning numerous times. Eighty thousand troops formed up into squadrons, stretching numerous kilometers. If one looked on, they would not be able to see the end, and the black wave would pressure their heart.
The army that pushed on confidently was like a black dragon, coiling around the mountains and rivers.
Looking over, one had a feeling of awe.
These were a bunch of lions and wolves, a collection of stone cold killers.
At the front of the army was a full sword-shield soldier formation. They would act as the main force in attacking the pass. Behind them was line after line of bowmen and crossbowmen.
As the mountain paths were narrow, the alliance army could not bring any large scale siege weapons; they could only bring scaling ladders. Apart from those, there would be a few heavy battering rams.
Lastly, the ten thousand elite cavalry.
In the middle of the cavalry formation, there was a middle-aged general that looked extremely eye catching. He looked resolute and confident; he wore a red robe, silver armor, and a golden helmet. Moreover, he rode a special war horse.
This middle-aged men was the commander of the alliance army tasked to attack Guiping Pass, the overall commander of the entire alliance army - Warring States famed general Li Mu.
Li Mu, a famous General of the Zhao Country during the Warring States Period. Along with Baiqi, Lianpo, and Wang Jian, they were the four famous generals of the Warring States. During the Battle of Changping, Li Mu was just one of the good generals at the north border of the Zhao Country.
He only displayed his skills near the end of the Warring States Period.
Li Mu was first at the north of Zhao Country, fighting against the Xiongnu people. After which, because he went against the Qin Country, he earned the title of Wu An Lord after damaging them heavily at Yi An. During 229 B.C., the Qin Country drove a wedge in the relationship between the Zhao King and Li Mu, causing the king to take back his power over the army and killing him not long after.
The one who sowed the discord was Wang Jian.
Undeniably, Li Mu was a famous general that could not be underestimated.
Along with Li Mu's appearance, the four famous generals of the Warring States Period had all appeared in the wilderness. Baiqi was loyal to Shanhai City, Wang Jian worked for the Qin King, Lianpo was under Di Chen, as for Li Mu, his Lord was a mystery.
One only knew that it was one of the Lords of the alliance army.
With such a great general in the alliance army, it was no wonder that they could take over half of Guilin Prefecture in a short three days. They basically did not face any obstacles.
One must know that if one wanted to travel the entire Guilin Prefecture, they would need three to four days to do so. This was because Guilin Prefecture was narrow from north to south and long from east to west.
Li Mu looked on at the stronghold in the distance, deep in thought.
The scene in front of him seemed to have been more than he had expected.
Firstly, Li Mu did not think that a large number of troops would actually be housed inside the pass. Logically speaking, since Taiping Country had surrendered, be it Shanhai City or Taiping Country, neither troops would have reason to remain in the pass.
If there were so many of them, why didn't they enter Guilin Prefecture?
All of this was a mystery.
After all, Ouyang Shuo's plan and thinking was not something that other people could know.
Secondly, Li Mu did not expect that the enemy had already learned of their existence.
The intel system of Shanhai City was really eye opening.
With that, Li Mu linked it to another point. Since the enemy in the stronghold knew of them, the Shanhai City Army in Xunzhou would also know.
Who knows, maybe reinforcements were on their way too.
With this conjecture, attacking Guilin Prefecture was not the right idea. The moment reinforcements arrived, Li Mu really did not have the confidence to take them down all at once.
"My plan seems to need to have some changes."
Li Mu muttered, but his expression became more resolute instead. No matter what change occurred, it could not stop their strategic goal—they must take down Guiping Pass!
Although Li Mu was best at cavalry battle, he still knew some things about sieging.
When two met on a narrow path, only the strong would survive.
Within the stronghold, on the city walls.
When the menacing-looking alliance army appeared on the mountain roads before Guiping Pass, they faced a bunch of guards lined up solemnly. These people had sworn to defend this place to their deaths.
At this moment, the blood in the mountain barbarians started to boil.
During this battle, they would fight for their new barbarian king, proving their loyalty and courage.
All the losses and humiliation would be washed off with the blood of the enemy.
Battle contributions were always the greatest glory for warriors.
Old minister Pei Ju stood on the middle of the city wall, looking on at the huge army far away. He had a really solemn expression. The numbers of enemies had far exceeded his expectations.
The enemy was ten times their number, so how long could they defend for?
Apart from Guiping Pass, Pei Ju was more worried about another pass—Xuanwu Pass.
However, for Xuanwu Pass, there was nothing he could do.
In truth, the two passes were not together and were separated by hundreds of miles.
Hence, Pei Ju could only try his best to defend and ensure that Guiping Pass remained standing. Toward Xuanwu Pass, Pei Ju did not give it up and did not move the five thousand mountain barbarians over from Xuanwu Pass.
After all, if Xuanwu Pass did not have a single force defending it, the enemy would be able to take down the pass without breaking a sweat. They could even go around Xunzhou Prefecture and attack Guiping Pass.
Hence, be it Guiping Pass or Xuanwu Pass, neither could be lost. These two passes were the most important doorways for Shanhai City to the north.
The moment these two doors were opened, they would suffer a huge defeat.
"Wuuu!"
Along with the low horn sounds, the war started without any signs.
Both sides did not provoke one another; they did not scold each other.
The two armies had both entered their most intense state of battle from the start.
The reason why Pei Ju had a little confidence in defending the pass was because of the strength of the mountain barbarian soldiers and because the pass was narrow and unsuitable for a large-scale assault.
Hence, even if the alliance army had a huge force, they could only send in a limited number of soldiers at a time.
As they say, if a pass only allowed one man through at a time, even if you had ten thousand men, it would be useless.
For one to call it a magnificent pass and an amazing choke point was not false.
Now, what they needed to test was the mental and combat strength of the eight thousand mountain barbarians. They had to survive the relentless attacks of the enemy without any rest.
The moment they were tired, weaknesses would appear in their defences, which the enemy would exploit.
The low and bellowing killing shouts reverberated through the valley.
Every moment, every second, there would be people dying.
Batch after batch of alliance army troops were thrown up and batch after batch fell.
The strength of the mountain barbarian soldiers shocked the alliance army.
The defence line formed up by the eight thousand of them braved the arrow rain of the alliance army. They were like a group of asuras, slaughtering the enemy in a highly efficient manner.
The soldiers were cold, but their eyes were filled with passion.
The commander of the mountain barbarians, Shihu, led the soldiers, killing the enemy courageously.
These mountain barbarians were born for battle, and no enemy could cause them to back off a single step.
In the entire morning, the alliance army sent out five waves, but they all lost. A meter-high mountain of corpses started to pile up under the city walls.
Similarly, under the washing of the arrow rain, the mountain barbarians on the city wall also suffered heavy losses.
The mountain barbarians were strong, but they were too courageous and not flexible. When they fought, they did not know how to defend themselves from the arrow rain, so they were killed off one by one.
A thousand mountain barbarian soldiers were forever laid to rest at Guiping Pass.
Seeing that it was already noon, Li Mu did not even want to give the mountain barbarians any chance to rest.
A fully energized bunch of soldiers switched out for the exhausted ones, as they launch assault after assault.
The switching speed was so fast that it made one look on in awe.
The mountain barbarians on the city wall only had time to grab some water and swallow some ice cold mantous before the closely packed enemy soldiers used the scaling ladders to swarm up the city walls once more.
"Brothers, kill!"
Shihu swallowed the last mantou, raising his Tang Blade and chopping off the head of one of the alliance army soldiers.
The fresh blood splattered onto the mantous of the mountain barbarians. However, they did not care; they did not even wipe off the blood and just directly swallowed the mantous.
They had gotten used to blood and gore during Chiyou's reign.
Seeing the scene in front of them, the alliance army felt a shiver run down their spines.
The enemy in front of them were not like humans, they were like a bunch of devils from hell.
Before the battle, they were already scared.
However, the attack horns unceasingly sounded.
The alliance army could only grit their teeth and engage these devils.
This massacre caused the heavens and earth to change colors.
The red clouds on top of the battle turned into a huge whirlpool, slowly turning. The endless killing aurae and blood energy were absorbed into the spiral.
This battle was a race against time and also a battle of the mental strength of both sides.
Facing an endless assault, the mountain barbarian soldiers were like invincible asuras. Their bodies were filled with a fountain of energy, and they did not feel tired at all.
Seeing the night sky slowly rising from afar, Li Mu's expression grew more and more solemn.
The enemy was much stronger than he had anticipated.
At this point, Li Mu even thought of his old opponent, the strong Qin Army.
The Qin Army from before was as strong as this.
"I really did not expect that there would be such an iron-blood army in the wilderness."
Li Mu sighed and ordered his troops to retreat and prepare for the battle on the next day.
After a day, although the alliance army had suffered heavy casualties, losing 25 thousand men, based on his estimations, the troops inside the stronghold had lost half their members.
How would the remaining four thousand troops face the attacks tomorrow?
If everything went well, they would be able to take down Guiping Pass in the afternoon.
Li Mu's determination had never been so resolute.
Shanhai City was a huge dragon that was about to take flight. They had to deal a fatal blow before it could spread its wings.
If not, no other territory would be able to survive in the southwest region.
"Even if you are a dragon, you will kneel!"