Aspiring to the Ten Kingdoms

Li Jilong led his war horse across the stream, looking at the slightly tired soldiers, a trace of solemnity flashed in his eyes. He grew up in a military camp since he was a child. A lot of experience.

Fatigue marching is a taboo for military strategists.

No matter at any time, as long as you enter the unknown territory, you must retain the physical strength to fight at any time.

If you seek too fast, it is easy for the enemy to take advantage of you.

The consumption of this mountain road was greater than he imagined.

He asked Lang Shichang, a young general beside him: "General Lang, is there a place to rest in front? We have to stop and rest for a while..."

Lang Shichang was the son of Lang Anping from the Baosai Department, the queen of Zhongliang who claimed to be the queen of Meng Huo.

Whether it's true or not, but since Gao Huaide took over, the whole family moved to Xichang City, and has officially integrated into Dayu. Many athletes from the clan have been elected to the Chengdu Military Region, and Lang Shichang is one of them.

This time Li Jilong was the vanguard, and Cao Bin specially assigned Lang Shichang to act as his guide.

Lang Shichang was a little worried at the beginning, thinking that Li Jilong was too young to take on this important task, but along the way, he found that his young boss handled the details that needed attention during the march very well, and he felt relieved.

Lang Shichang thought for a while and said: "There is a mountain depression five miles ahead, where you can rest your feet."

Li Jilong said in a loud voice: "Hang on, go to the col in front to rest." After finishing speaking, he said: "There should be news about Xing Shan, you arrange someone to meet me, and bring him to the col to see me."

Xing Shan is the leader of their horse exploration, responsible for the movement of the Holy Communist Party.

Lang Shichang saw that Li Jilong's words and deeds were very organized, so he took the order and left.

Not long after Li Jilong arrived at the col, Lang Shichang led Xing Shan to report.

"General Li!" Xing Shan was an unattractive man, dressed in the clothes of a Dali mountain man, with a bamboo binoculars hanging on his waist.

Li Jilong was well versed in the ways of the world, so he did not eagerly ask for information, but tore off the water bottle from his horse, and said, "It's been a hard journey, drink some water first, to moisten your throat."

Xing Shan was flattered to take it, took a sip, and before Li Jilong asked, he had already told the news he had inquired: "General, Gu Yuanda, a general under Dali Gaofang, has arrived at Shenggongfu and took over the management of Shenggong. There are a total of five thousand soldiers in the defense."

Li Jilong's expression was normal when he heard the words, but he was thinking in his heart: If he confronted his two thousand soldiers head-on, it would be enough to defeat the opponent's five thousand soldiers, but if they defended strictly according to the military fort, his own 2000 soldiers would not be enough.

Even though Li Jilong hadn't seen the defense of Sheng Gongfu with his own eyes, he could guess a thing or two.

Shenggong is not comparable to that of other places.

The so-called 赕 means tax in the south, that is, Dali.

The administrative organization of Dali is very simple, and the economically prosperous areas are centered around the two cores of Yunnan, the capital of the country, and Kunming, the prefecture of Shanchan.Most of the others are in the mountains and forests, most of them are 37 in total, Dali himself can't remember the middle and small ones.

In order to facilitate control, they built a trading post on the main road between the mountains and forests to accept tax payments from various ministries.

Where do people in Dali not understand the peeing nature of those mountain people?
Without any real benefit, it is impossible for them to pay taxes honestly.

Set up a trading post to sell some daily necessities that are not available in the mountains, and the people in the mountains will pay taxes obediently.

The Holy Communion is one of them. For the safety of trade, the official will also build simple defense facilities to prevent plundering by small tribes that don't have eyes.

But since Cao Bin took charge of Chengdu, Gao Fang found various excuses to strengthen Sheng Gong's house and repair it into a solid fortress.

As a vanguard, Li Jilong's purpose was to create a comfortable marching environment for the rear army.As long as he arrives safely outside the Holy Communion, it will be a credit whether he can be beaten or not.

It's just that Li Jilong's family has a profound background, and he is also very talented. This is the first battle in his life, and he is unwilling to be ordinary, so he asked: "Did you find something unusual?"

Xing Shan said: "No, Gu Yuanda is a very prudent general who is best at defending. Since he led his troops into Shenggong, he sent soldiers to cut down trees and dispatched horses to inquire about information. Our people fought with them many times. Encountered, with the advantages of the telescope, we did not suffer."

Li Jilong's expression moved slightly, and he said, "Why do you cut down trees?"

Xing Shan was stunned, and said suspiciously: "It should be repairing fortifications."

Lang Shichang also did not expect that the superior officer who performed extremely well all the way would ask such a stupid question, and explained: "The general may not know Gu Yuanda, but this man is a senior general of Dali, and he is the most prudent and kind. Duan Siping, the scourge, led his troops to attack the eastern part of Yunnan. Gu Yuanda guarded the mountain road, and stayed in the front line for more than 6000 days without taking off his armor. With [-] people, he resisted the attack of [-] people. The purpose of sending people to cut down trees must be to strengthen the defense."

As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Li Jilong, and hurriedly hid the contempt in his eyes.

Li Jilong shook his head silently, and responded with a diametrically opposite attitude towards this reasonable explanation.

"No, the general is oversimplifying the matter. If Gu Yuanda's mission is to defend the Holy Communion, his actions are reasonable. But his purpose is not to stay here to defend, but to stop us, not let us Easily kill Lijiang, and directly approach Longshou Pass."

Li Jilong looked further, and said: "Shenggong is a trading point extending in all directions. No matter how strong it is repaired, it will not become a strategic location. It is indeed more than enough to resist our vanguard army, but once the army arrives, it cannot be defended at all. Not to mention Gu Yuanda, even Zhang Suiyang will not be able to come here. Gao Fang sent him here to get reinforcements from the Yang family in Shanchan Mansion, just delay us for ten days. There is absolutely no need to send soldiers to cut down trees under such circumstances , draining the soldiers’ stamina for nothing.”

Shenggong is not a city, and only a small number of businessmen live in it. When they learned that the war was coming, they fled with their families, and there was no extra people to help.

This big battle is coming. It is not a wise choice to waste the physical strength of your soldiers for no reason for a defensive stronghold that will be abandoned if you delay the time.

There was absolutely no need for Gu Yuanda to do this.

Lang Shichang was startled when he heard that, but he also realized it, and said in astonishment: "Then why are they cutting down trees?"

As for Xing Shan, that is completely speechless.

Li Jilong didn't answer, but closed his eyes, and patiently pondered the whole story, when he suddenly heard the neighing of a war horse beside him, he had a flash of inspiration and said, "He is preparing for the way out, so that's how it is."

Meeting Lang Shichang's and Xing Shan's puzzled gazes, Li Jilong said excitedly, "Dali is a small country and cannot afford many cavalry. Gu Yuanda's [-] soldiers are of course infantry. But it's not easy to retreat completely. So I think it's not bad. They cut down trees not to reinforce the Holy Communion, but to set up positions in the rear so that when they retreat, they can slow down our pursuit. retreat."

Lang Shichang put his hands together and said: "The general is right, this Gu Yuanda cherishes soldiers the most, so all the soldiers under his command are willing to die for him."

Li Jilong suddenly looked at Xing Shan and said, "Can we go around through the forest and go around to the back of Sheng Gongfu?"

"Should be possible!" Lang Shichang replied, "As far as I know, some small and medium-sized tribes will open trails in the mountains and forests to bypass the wealth in various places in order not to pay taxes. I am afraid that the holy communist tribe will be no exception. However, the number of people It should not be too much, it is easy to be exposed."

Li Jilong's eyes flashed, and he said: "I will lead 200 people around to the rear of Shenggongfu to attack the soldiers behind them. The general will continue to march to Shenggongfu. If Shenggongfu sends troops to rescue, he will use the sound of arrows as a signal. The general can directly bypass the Shenggong to send aid. If you can’t take down the Shenggong, you have to swallow their 5000 people.”

Lang Shichang was very moved, and he was eager to try: "General, let the last general lead the troops around!"

Li Jilong said vigilantly: "General Lang, is this trying to steal credit?"

Lang Shichang smiled wryly, and hurriedly said: "Don't dare!" He said bravely: "After going around, it will be dangerous after all."

Li Jilong said: "Then I will do my part even more. I, a Dayu soldier, have no reason to cherish life and fear death, so it's decided..."
-
One mile to the west of Shenggongyu, there is a shoal river stream with rugged terrain, which the locals call Shibatiao.

Gu Yuanda was naked, holding a big wooden mallet high and vigorously smashing a ground thorn into the soil, wiping the sweat from his forehead, looking at the line of defense that had been temporarily arranged, he felt a little relieved, and raised his head with a smile. He said: "Come on, I just got the news that the cavalry of Yu Kingdom in the Northern Dynasty are about to walk out of the mountain stream. With their speed, it will only take a day at most to get out of the mountain stream and reach Shenggongfu. We don't have extra time to spend here. Whether you can withdraw safely to Longshou Pass depends on today..."

He has great prestige in the army, and with his own efforts, the soldiers who worked together had no complaints, and they followed him and shouted: "Good!"

In order to work harder, Gu Yuanda also sang a folk song of the Bai nationality in Dali: "My sister on the other side of the mountain..."

While working, while singing, in full swing.

Just when they sang to the climax, a group of uninvited guests appeared in the forest.

They rushed into the crowd like wolves and tigers, brandishing their swords.

Li Jilong laughed wantonly: "My sister is not, your uncle is here!"

There were not many of them, and they all showed signs of fatigue.But Dali's more than a thousand soldiers didn't even wear armor. Most of them were bare-chested and held tools like mallets in their hands. They had no armor or weapons...

There is no need to calculate at all, it is a massacre on the right side!

Gu Yuanda looked angrily at the sudden Dayu soldiers slaughtering his own soldiers. He was so angry that he vomited blood in his heart. He shouted "hold on" and hit a soldier with the mallet in his hand, sending him flying.

But he couldn't wait for the second swing, and a soldier's spear had already pierced his body first.

This kind of wooden mallet for nailing wooden stakes is indeed powerful, but its attack speed is too slow...