Lord of the Desert

Chapter 92
400 meters away from the foot of Hongduo Mountain, the big banner with Hong characters penetrates into the earth.

Below the banner, Hong Jian, Hong Sheng, Li Shenji, Chi Liangbi, and Cui Jiashu were looking at the cottage.

"The root system of Populus euphratica is extremely deep, and there must be water under the place where it grows."

The second master of the Cui family stroked the iron ring on his finger and said.

"The one surnamed Wu said that there is a deep underground river with a large flow under the cave in Hongduo Mountain. It seems that what he said is true."

"Since there is no shortage of water for flying over the sea, we may not be able to consume them from afar."

He frowned, watching the bandits drive the flock of sheep and horses up the mountain path and into the cave.

Hongduo Mountain is only a hundred feet high, compared with the continuous mountains in Liangzhou, it is a small stone mountain.

But Wan Guangji chose this place not only for the water source.

"As Wu Guangzhi said, the uphill road is divided into three sections, roughly in the shape of a '匚'."

Li Shenji raised his eyes and looked into the distance, and said.

"These three sections are like three levels, and each level is easy to defend but difficult to attack."

"In my opinion, the more vigorous the battle is, the easier it is to fight; if it drags on, I'm afraid there will be heavy casualties!"

As he said, Hong Fan, who was standing nearby, looked up and could vaguely see the bandits' fortifications.

The horizontal line below the word "匚" is about one hundred and tens of meters long. On the road, bandits come and go, and more than a dozen layers of refusal horses have been placed.

The vertical line of the word "匚" is a dangerous path sandwiched by cliffs, only three to four meters wide and narrow, with an average drop of 30 meters on both sides of the rock platforms, and a female wall made of stones around the top.

The horizontal line above the word "匚" leading to the entrance of the cave is relatively better, but the attacker who climbs first will inevitably be surrounded and suppressed from three sides, and it is not easy to gain a foothold.

After looking at the overall situation, Hong Fan's heart floated the words "one man is in charge, ten thousand men are not allowed to open".

He glanced left and right, and everyone around him showed embarrassment.

But the arrow was on the string and had to be sent.

After a cup of tea, the forty Guantongjing soldiers and the five hundred soldiers were all dressed in armor and fully armed.

On the top of Hongduo Mountain, a large banner with the word "Wan" on the black background was erected, and hundreds of archers stood behind the stone wall, facing off against the team at the foot of the mountain.

Under Hong Jian's order, Hong Sheng walked to the foot of the mountain to stand still, and shouted to the bandits to persuade them to surrender.

The sound broke the mountain, but there was no response.

A moment later, He Liangjun leaned out half of his body from the cliff more than [-] meters high, raised his hand and shot an arrow, which was crushed by Hong Sheng with his bare hands.

So far, the two sides have nothing to say.

"According to the scout's observation and Wu Guangzhi's information, Hongduo Mountain is steep on all sides, and there is only one way up the mountain, and there is no secret passage."

Hong Jian leaned on a long sword.

"There are tens of feet of cliffs, and there are archers waiting in full force, so even warriors can't go up."

"The three passes of mountaineering have to be conquered one by one with hard bridges and hard horses. There is no other way."

As he spoke, he looked around at the crowd, as if he was waiting for someone to take the initiative to invite him.

As expected, Chi Liangbi took the initiative to come out.

"Brother, in the west of Liangzhou, everyone knows that Jin Hai bravely rides in iron clothes, and is fearless in battle."

He clapped his hands in begging.

"In this battle, my Chi family is willing to lead the first team!"

Hong Jian waited silently for a while, seeing that no one else spoke, he issued a military order.

Not long after, ten brave cavalry led their own team of hundreds of people to line up in front of the battle.

Chi Liangbi put on a heavy armor that weighed more than fifty catties, and led the front with a steel axe.

"The battle must be fought first, Fifth Lord Chi is brave after all!"

In Zhu Yi's formation, Hong Bo praised.

But Hong Lie crossed his arms, disapproving: "There is courage, but heroism is not necessarily."

Several people were puzzled, only Hong Fan nodded in agreement.

"How to say?"

Hong Bo asked.

Not only him, Hong She, Shen Hong and others were also puzzled.

"Usually speaking, the first battle is when the enemy is at the sharpest point, and the danger is the greatest; this is also the reason for the hesitation of several other companies."

Hong Fan and Hong Lie looked at each other and explained.

"But this battle is different."

"Although the first section of the road is narrow and long, and densely covered with roadblocks, the distance from the mountain is too small; Haifei is unlikely to deploy heavy troops here..."

Hong Bo has rich experience, and he can react after hearing only one sentence.

"That's right, the highest point of this section of the road is only three or four feet high. With my foot strength, even if I am wearing heavy armor, it is not difficult to go up."

"If the sand bandits send a hundred people in an attempt to take advantage of the layers of resistance to delay, the family lord only needs to order a few Hunran to lead the two teams to climb up and intersect from the side, and they will be able to break their way back and change the stalemate into annihilation."

He slammed his fist into the palm of his hand, but he couldn't help but be surprised when he looked at Hong Fan - the latter was full of fights and calculations, but he had experienced actual combat for the third time, so how could he be so keen?

"I don't really know much about battle formation."

Hong Fan saw what he was thinking and explained with a smile.

"But Chi Wuye's performance just now made me somewhat guess his intentions, and only then did I deduce the reason."

"Later, the Chi family will clean up the refusal horses, and they will lose a little manpower in the second round, so they should be withdrawn."

"With multiple coalition forces, there must be a balance on the surface."

"Since the Chi family has won the first round, when it comes to the second and third rounds that are more difficult, the family master will not be able to force them."

The logic and deduction of his words were meticulous and thorough, but even Hong Lie was a little surprised.

In the two lives, Hong Fan's social forms are very different, but the people's hearts are the same.

For every powerful force in the coalition, the first goal is not to win, but to preserve their own strength as much as possible.

On the other side, more than a hundred warriors went up the mountain path and began to undergo the baptism of the arrow rain.

Chi Liangbi, who was full of veins, held an ax in both hands, ignoring the arrow clusters on the armor, and strode forward with his face hanging down.

Ten brave cavalry lined up in two rows, using their bodies as shields, and followed closely behind.

On the two-foot-wide gravel road, no matter whether it was a horse or a fence blocking it, it was easily smashed by the warriors wielding heavy weapons.

Things went as expected.

The two bandit archers at the end of the mountain path withdrew to the high place after shooting randomly for a few rounds.

The battle did not take place, and the arrows shot directly from high places became the embellishment of the engineers' work.

Hundreds of soldiers from the Chi family used large shields to cover them, while filling up the foot pit with the sand they carried, and clearing away the remaining wooden fences at the same time.

With such a steady advance, most of the way has been cleared in a short time, and the casualties are only five or six.

But He Liangjun whistled and changed the situation.

On the top of the cliff more than [-] meters high, the archers carried their starting bows, took materials from the female wall on the spot, and threw stones the size of human heads with all their strength.

Along the steep mountain wall, the sand and gravel bounce and drop rapidly, and you will reach the bottom of the mountain in a breath.

"Stone throwing from above, be careful!"

Chi Liangbi followed the sound and raised his head, while shouting a warning, he took a few steps forward and punched heavily.

Thunder exploded on the mountain road.

The stones that fell at a speed of nearly a hundred kilometers per hour were crushed and cracked his armor.

It's a pity that such skills are rare in Chi's family.

Three meters away, a brave cavalry had no time to dodge, and he caught the falling rock with his arm shield, and the shield shattered and his arm broke.

More movement came from behind.

Chi Liangbi looked back, only to see the soldiers in the formation screaming again and again, and several fountains of blood gushed out.

A round of more than [-] rolling stones hit one out of three out of four, adding six casualties.

The sand bandits on the top of the cliff continued to move.

Chi Wuye saw dozens of eyes focus on him.

"You are not allowed to look up!"

With a roar, he ignored the stones that fell from his helmet, and scanned the crowd with blood-soaked eyes.

"Shield, move forward!"

Chi Liangbi strode up the mountain.

The Centuries followed with the recovery move.

After a cup of tea, all the roadblocks on the mountain road were cleared.

Afterwards, Chi Liangbi led a few brave riders to make a tentative charge towards the second level, and was immediately pushed back by the arrows that were much denser than before.

At this point, he finally felt that the weight was enough, so he led the remaining [-] people back, bringing back the wounded and remains that had been left in place before.

PS: Let’s count the votes guys~~~
(End of this chapter)