During this period, Xi Heng received war intelligence from Kezhou City:
The Great Zhao Qimingcheng army collided with Yan Meng's army at Heilongtan and the battle has begun. Yan Meng's three armies are rushing there as quickly as possible, and General Zhao Wanli has also led the entire army to provide support.
Please ask her to join the battle in Heilongtan as soon as possible.
……
Chapter 111: Setting Fire to the Mountain
Heilongtan is located between three mountains, close to several large cities, and has a steep terrain.
Although it is called a pond, it is actually the fork of a wide river. There are two smaller fortresses on the mountain shore beside the river, named Shoushui Pass and Boshui Pass. They are important places that the Great Zhao must defend.
If both checkpoints are captured, the enemy can use its navy to attack and plunder from the south, or send a large army to go around our rear and form an encirclement.
Although Yan Meng is a nomadic people from the northern prairie and does not have many ships or navy, it is common sense that they should not worry about this.
However, when the enemy attacked the city previously, they used advanced weapons such as smoke bombs. Maybe they have a navy hidden in the rear during this war, so we have to be on guard against it.
Earlier, when Xi Heng was fighting in the enemy's rear in the north, Jiedushi He, who was stationed in Qiming City, led his troops out of the city for inspection. His scouts saw a part of Yan Meng's army camping around the Heilongtan area, and seemed to be eyeing the two checkpoints here.
He then led his troops forward, but was harassed by another enemy cavalry on the way. By the time he actually arrived at Shoushui Pass in the north, the enemy had already begun to attack the city vigorously. There were only one or two thousand troops stationed in Shoushui Pass, and it was difficult to stop the offensive of tens of thousands of enemy elite troops.
But even though the situation had weakened, the arrival of Jiedushi He to reinforce still confined the enemy to the vicinity of Shoushui Pass for a long time, and with the advantage of being more familiar with the terrain, he was able to stop the enemy for more than ten days.
But the second wave of Yan Meng's army arrived soon, and seemed determined to capture Heilongtan.
As the enemy's combat power grew, General He, who had originally been able to barely resist, could no longer defend the pass. He had to lead his troops to retreat and give up Shoushui Pass.
Although the first checkpoint was breached, there was another camp in the rear that was easier to defend and could be stationed there.
By now, the main forces of the two countries' militaries have gathered here, locked in a difficult tug-of-war.
When Xi Heng arrived, the enemy army and the Great Zhao army were confronting each other in the mountains and rivers.
The two armies were separated by a wide river and could be seen from afar.
However, the enemy had already captured Shoushui and occupied a bridge across the river. The Zhao army not only had to guard against the enemy crossing the river, but also had to pay attention to the mountainous area in the north, as the enemy might cross the bridge and pass through the woods to attack.
Da Zhao did not want to be trapped in the situation of defending the city gates to the death, and had already sent many reconnaissance troops to various parts of the mountains and forests.
The army also camped outside the pass and could be deployed at any time.
Relying on their richer combat experience in the mountains and forests than Yan Meng's army, they fought against the enemy with a squad of guns and shields and swords and shields.
Now Xi Heng has also led nearly 7,000 elite soldiers to the battlefield, which has further expanded Da Zhao's advantage.
Seeing that her own army was still intact and had not been defeated, she felt that since she had led elite troops into the battle, she would be able to fight back and win.
But then, the other two generals said some bad news -
Yan Meng's three armies have gathered at the Black Water Pond, and the total number of troops may have reached as many as 100,000.
The northern border of the Great Zhao was said to have an army of 150,000 who were always victorious, but among them, only 50,000 or 60,000 were capable of fighting.
The other soldiers had only been trained and rarely seen on the battlefield, so they were not much different from the provincial and prefectural armies in the south of the Great Zhao.
If these miscellaneous soldiers were sent to the battlefield, they would only die.
Not only that - Yan Meng's country outside the border is still organizing troops, and as time goes by, more and more enemy troops will move south.
The longer the battle lasts, the stronger the enemy will become.
Once they capture Heishui, they may move south in large numbers and plunder cities in the interior.
Moreover, it is already autumn now, and the closer it gets to winter, the more advantageous the Yanmeng people will be as they have more experience and equipment in keeping warm.
In the General's garrison at Boshui Pass, Zhao Wanli described the current battle situation and analyzed:
"The longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it will be... But the problem is that the enemy has already established a firm foothold. If we rush to launch a large-scale attack, we will only suffer a crushing defeat."
"We need reinforcements, money and food, as well as weapons and armor to equip the new troops." Jiedushi He, who looked even older, said simply.
Xi Heng just looked at the map silently, wondering whether the twenty spirit stones could release a smaller method to turn the sea of blood upside down.
But after a moment he shook his head. Only one-fifth of the spiritual energy was not enough no matter how he thought about it.
"At best, I can only muster a few blood surge spells that are loud but have no sustainability..." she muttered to herself.
If she could use the Sea of Blood Technique, she could, like she did when she annihilated the Tianliang army, swallow up tens of thousands of enemy troops in the sea of blood and dye the entire black water pool into a large area of blood.
"Reinforcements..." Zhao Wanli sighed:
"I have previously sent envoys on horseback to the capital, but the court always reported that they were short of money and food, the situation was unstable, and asked us to continue to hold on and wait."
Xi Heng suddenly asked, "But the Dark Sky Cult in the southeast has rebelled?"
Zhao Wanli looked over with a complicated expression.
After a moment, he nodded and said:
"Not only that, the barbarians in the west have also gathered a large army to attack, and many towns on the outskirts have been attacked... The bandits in the capital have also gathered their forces again, and it seems that Dong Huangmei Mountain is involved... They don't want to intervene directly, so they support these bandits."
"In this case, I only need a thousand cavalrymen, and I can pacify them one by one when I return to the south." Xi Heng said.
"Your Highness, you can't leave now. The reason why the enemy can continue to stalemate with our army is also related to the power you created by slashing the Huajin in succession. If Your Highness leaves, the deterrent will be lost, and there will be one less powerful Huajin on the scene, the enemy will surely launch a large-scale attack." Zhao Wanli shook his head:
"If the Black Water Pond Pass is breached, the consequences will be greater than the disaster caused by the several rebellious armies in the south."
But I want to get some flesh and blood from the corpse...Xi Heng thought.
But what the other party said was right. If she left and the fighting power was reduced, it would be more difficult to defend this place.
If you want to leave the city, you must first inflict heavy damage on the enemy.
But Xi Heng's spiritual energy is not enough to do this...
At the moment, she seems to be frozen here.
"I can only slowly consume Yan Mengjun and I." She said to herself.
The Black Water Pond territory is mostly mountainous and river-filled, and there aren't many wide areas where large armies can be assembled to fight each other.
When the two armies are in a stalemate here, they usually won't engage in a decisive battle. Instead, they will dispatch troops to attack each other and slowly consume their respective forces.
"At present, we can only wait for the domestic situation to stabilize and the imperial court to send troops to rescue... or use surprising troops and strategies and take risks to defeat the enemy," said Zhao Wanli.
"Any ideas?"
"Look for opportunities to use fire to break through the camp, break the bridge and burn the mountain to stop the enemy." He placed a red flag on the table around the map and dropped it into the area occupied by the enemy.
……
A few days later, at nightfall.
Xi Heng, wearing complete light armor, led 500 elite soldiers under his command to leave the three mountains of Black Water Pond, detour for a hundred miles, and slowly climb up the mountain behind where the road was dangerous and there were few people.
The soldiers walked on dead leaves and wet soil, held on to the dense trees around them, and advanced step by step in this place where there was no road at all.
Almost all the men in this team are Ming Jin men, and each of them has learned some Qinggong. It is not difficult for them to run quickly on this hillside, but it will make too much noise.
Even though the location she was going to was quite remote, it was still behind enemy lines and there were still enemy troops patrolling. If she was discovered, all her efforts would be wasted, so she had to act with caution.
Xi Heng was at the front, looking around for the enemy with his excellent eyesight and hearing, and found a small enemy force at a high mountain pass in the distance.
There were only a few people at that sentry post.
The Zhao army was not discovered because of the dense tree canopy and shrubs.
But if they continue to grope forward, the team will come into their sight.
Since the enemies were on the way, Xi Heng concealed his breath and groped forward in silence.
There was only the sound of a few leaves crunching under my footsteps.
It wasn't long before she walked hundreds of meters alone and arrived at the cliff below the sentry post.
A pale straight wall three or four meters high naturally could not stop her, and she came to the back of the sentry post with a light step.
In the middle of the sentry post, a pile of fire was burning in the open space. Several enemy soldiers surrounded it, grilling meat with sharpened branches. The branches were slowly rotating, and the flames were rising, making a sizzling sound.
A few pinches of salt are sprinkled and mixed with oil and water to create the fragrant aroma of the meat.
Several soldiers chatted and laughed with each other in the slightly dull tone of the Yanmeng ethnic group, and occasionally sang together.
"The sun weaves a beautiful glow ~ thousands of galloping horses are chasing after her..."
"Reach out to pick that bouquet of flowers, and you will encounter many bumpy roads along the way~"
The four sentries sang together, and the joy continued.
On the side, Xi Heng quickly rushed forward when the enemy was enjoying the barbecue and lowered his guard.
The figure flashed, and he drew his sword and started slashing.
The two enemy soldiers closest to her immediately raised their heads, but had not yet swallowed the pieces of meat in their mouths.
She moved forward without hesitation. The enemy in front of her shouted angrily. As soon as she drew her sword with her right hand, her ribs, heart, lungs and spine were cut by red lines.
The severed half of the body fell into the fire. In order to prevent the other party from screaming, Xi Heng turned the sword and pierced the head again.
Within three seconds, four sentries were killed.
Xi Heng returned to his team with a calm expression and led his troops to continue climbing on the wet soil.
On the way, they destroyed five or six sentry posts and killed three patrol teams. After bypassing the mountainside, they could see Shoushui Pass occupied by the enemy in the distance.
There are a large number of garrison tents in the small open space outside the checkpoint, which are almost endless.
This place is close to water, so a simple fire attack would likely be quickly extinguished by a large number of enemy troops.
The fire must be large enough and widespread enough to be effective.
From a high place, one can vaguely see a war breaking out in the mountains and forests on the other side.
In order to cooperate with her sneak attack, the other two generals were leading their troops in the front to make a show of force and attract the attention of the enemy general.
Now that the war has begun, faint shouts of killing can be heard echoing in the valley.
She also needs to hurry to find a good location and start fires in all directions.
……
The dark clouds in the sky obscured the moonlight, and the night became increasingly darker.
Xi Heng traveled through numerous mountains and forests, assassinating people along the way, and finally led his troops to the vicinity of Shoushui Pass.
She first went around to the northernmost enemy camp and quietly occupied a small outpost on a high place.
She left a hundred men hiding here to prepare for an attack on the northern camp, and then took another number of people to the south to prepare for an attack on the other enemy camp.
This was repeated several times, and there was a group of light soldiers deployed beside the four enemy camps, ready to fire and launch surprise attacks at any time.
Xi Heng led the last hundred men and secretly climbed up the city wall of the checkpoint. He quietly cleared a section of the garrison on the wall, occupied the high ground, and ordered the soldiers to take out longbows and aim at the many houses inside the city gate.
Then, a burning arrow wrapped with oil-soaked cotton cloth and a small amount of gunpowder inside was placed on the bow.
The sounds of fighting on the other side of the forest became more and more intense, but Yan Mengjun still hadn't discovered her troops.
The soldiers lit the rockets and drew their bows.
Stars of light appeared one after another in this sentry post.
By the time the enemy troops in the city noticed something was wrong, rockets had already been fired one after another, streaking across the sky, hitting wooden houses or tents, and quickly igniting the surrounding areas.
When the rockets hit the enemy camp, it only took a few seconds to set those dry, rough leather tents on fire.
If the kerosene sticks to the soldiers or horses, it will take a while for it to be extinguished.
In an instant, the enemy camp was filled with smoke and flames, the defenders were in a state of panic, and everyone shouted to put out the fire.
When the other four armies saw the arrows being shot from this side, they raised their bows and shot arrows at the same time, setting fire to large areas of enemy camps in all directions.
If the enemy had not been camped by the river, they would have been defeated immediately.
The Yan Meng defenders reacted quickly and sent several patrols to chase after the rockets.
After firing three rockets, Xi Heng led his troops back to the dense forests at the rear and shouted, "Smash!"
The soldiers under his command immediately took out the kerosene bottles they carried, lit the oil-soaked cloth strips with fire starters, and threw them directly at the densely wooded area around them.
Flames flew everywhere, and the noise increased.
The flames obscured the figures of the people, and the sounds of running were also covered by the sound of burning fire.
