My brother Ying Zheng, who dares to kill me?.

Chapter 721: Li Mu is determined to give up Fukou Pass! Send another coffin!
Shexian County is of great significance!
The narrowest section of the Fukou Pass is the two passes from Shexian to Licheng and Liaoyangcheng.

These two passes are also the two passes with the greatest strategic significance.

Even if they were defeated in this battle, as long as they could hold She County, the Zhao army would be able to deploy heavy troops around the rugged terrain and mountainous areas around She County and launch surprise attacks and ambushes on the Qin army.

The Zhao army was also able to prevent the Qin army from fully deploying its forces, forcing it to launch attacks along the inherent direction of the mountainous terrain.

They could also take advantage of the towering hillsides and narrow mountain roads to prevent the Qin army from directly deploying large-scale troops to the east of Shexian County.

Therefore, not only Hu Qiong, but also Huang Gao and other captains could not understand Li Mu's orders.

The Zhao army finally captured She County.

How can I give it up?

Seeing the soldiers' questioning and puzzled eyes, Li Mu didn't want to pay any attention to them.

But thinking of the almost collapsed morale of the army and the blow to his prestige caused by the failure, Li Mu said calmly: "If Qin Chang'an Jun can make the earth dragon turn over again at Fukou Pass, or set fire to Fukou Pass and attack."

"Do you have any countermeasures?"

The generals were speechless!

Not to mention the countermeasures.

It was difficult for them to even escape!

Li Mu continued: "For both Qin and Zhao, Fukouxing is a strategic location."

"But for Qin Chang'an Jun, Fukouxing is the best place for him to practice witchcraft."

"Until Qin Chang'an dies in battle, or until our Great Zhao has a great wizard capable of fighting against him, Fukou Pass will no longer be a fortress to stop the enemy, but a natural barrier to take our lives!"

"It's better to abandon it!"

Huang Gao looked at the city below his feet, his eyes full of regret.

But Huang Gao had to admit that Li Mu was right.

The geographical advantage of She County originally meant that whoever occupied it first would benefit.

But when Ying Chengjiao stands on the opposite side of the Zhao army, She County's geographical advantage will only belong to Ying Chengjiao!
With his right hand gently stroking the bricks of the city wall, Huang Gao asked in a low voice: "Commander-in-chief, where do you think our army should retreat to?"

After a few moments of silence, Li Mu spoke in a deep voice: "Pass on my order!"

"Order the troops of Wuxiang Lord (Lecheng) and Changguo Lord (Lejian) to advance faster."

"Order Sima Shang's troops to return when the time is right."

"Order all the garrisons in She County to retreat, and have the commander-in-chief Ren You lead the troops to set up an ambush ten miles east of She County."

"Order all the troops on the front line of Liaoyang City to return to the rescue at night, and abandon all the pass cities along the way."

"If the scouts find out that the Qin army is pursuing them, wait for my order and annihilate them!"

"If the scouts have not found the Qin army's pursuers, then join forces with me and retreat to the east of Fukouxing!"

The generals were horrified and cried out in shock: "Commander, no!"

Li Mu's retreat caused the Zhao army to lose all the advantages they had gained through blitzkrieg.

It even put the entire State of Zhao in danger!

You should know that the east Xingkou of Fukouxing is only more than 80 miles away from Li Mu’s fief Wu’an City.

Wu'an City is only seventy miles away from Handan City.

If the Zhao army retreated to Xingkou Dongxingkou, the distance between the main battlefield of this battle and the capital of Zhao would be only more than 150 miles!
Moreover, the journey of more than 150 miles is flat, without any natural obstacles.

This is tantamount to putting the enemy at one's doorstep for a decisive battle!

If Li Mu makes any mistake, the consequences will be disastrous!

Hu Qiong said anxiously: "Commander, if our army really does this."

"The court will surely be horrified! The king will surely be furious!"

"Even if the commander-in-chief has other plans, how will he explain this to the court?"

Li Mu walked towards the horse path leading to the city wall, his voice steady and firm: "In this battle, Fukou Xingdong Xingkou is the most suitable battlefield for our army."

"I will not take my comrades to die, and I will not fight a losing battle in a losing terrain."

"I will bear the dissatisfaction of the court towards me. At most, the court can just dismiss me!"

"As for what you need to think about, there is only one thing..."

Li Mu stopped and looked back, looking at the generals with a tired but determined gaze:
"That is."

"victory!"
-
When the sun rose again, the wildfire continued to spread towards the southeast along the direction of the spring breeze.

The billowing smoke and rubble on the ground made Fukouxing look like a horrific scene after a disaster.

But in this doomsday scene, there is a song floating in the air, a mixture of countless voices.

“…Yiyiqida (small buds are emerging from the soil one after another) ~ Youyanqijie (the sprouts are so beautiful) ~”

"The rice seedlings are growing more and more luxuriant, and the ears of grain are hanging down and growing longer."

"The harvest is so abundant (the grain harvest is so abundant) ~ the threshing floor is full of grain (the threshing floor is full of grain in the open air)..."

The faces of the Qin soldiers were soaked in blood and sweat, with heads harvested from the necks of the Zhao soldiers tied around their waists, just like farmers who had just finished harvesting the autumn crops.

A long queue was formed in front of the military judge. After being checked by the military judge, the heads at the waist were thrown into the pile of heads that had already formed several small hills, waiting for the military merit to be awarded after the beheadings were exposed three days later.

Just as they throw the autumn grain into the threshing floor and wait for the corn to be exposed to the sun.

The soldiers who were cleaning up the battlefield picked up the headless corpses one by one with their guns, and carefully looted the armor, weapons, money and food that were worn by the Zhao army or dropped on the ground.

It is more like a child picking up fallen corn in the fields after the autumn harvest.

A poem about farming, "Zhou Song Zai Shan", was hummed by an unknown Qin soldier, and more and more soldiers joined in the response.

Farming and war. Hope and despair.

Survival and death.

They merge together at Fukou Xing, creating a distorted picture unique to troubled times.

However, most of the Qin army soldiers thought there was nothing wrong with this.

Only Ying Chengjiao seemed out of place.

Standing in front of a corpse, Ying Chengjiao not only didn't want to sing, but sighed softly: "I will persuade them to surrender."

"This will give him a chance to live."

"The King of Zhao is weak, the Prime Minister of Zhao is unjust, and the state of Zhao cannot survive."

"You have already fulfilled the king's favor by leading the remaining soldiers to stop me for one day. Why should you die for Zhao?"

In front of Ying Chengjiao was the corpse of Zhao Mao, the commander of the Zhao army.

Even though he was already dead, Zhao Mao still did not fall down, but just knelt for a long time facing the direction of Wu'an City.

There were no fatal injuries on his body.

In other words, every wound on his body was fatal, which eventually caused this fearless captain to die of exhaustion.

Peng Yue said softly: "Captain Zhao Mao is truly a brave man!"

"It is said that this general is particularly good at commanding troops, and was once the vanguard commander under Lord Wu'an of Zhao."

"After Zhao Wu'an Jun was transferred from Dai County, this general organized several proactive attacks on the Xiongnu and won every time."

"It's a pity that the two armies are fighting each for their own masters."

Peng Yue knew that Ying Chengjiao hoped to recruit this general who launched a special attack on the Huns to serve the Qin Dynasty.

But their positions determined that Zhao Mao and Ying Chengjiao would never be the same kind of people in their lives.

After a few moments of silence, Ying Chengjiao spoke softly, "It's hard to find a coffin in the wilderness."

"After the beheading is completed and the merits are tested, the head of the general will be retrieved, his remains will be preserved, and his body will be wrapped in horsehide."

"When we return to the city, we will find a coffin and bury him properly, and then send him back to Zhao."

Yafu immediately handed over his hand: "Yui!"

Seeing that Ying Chengjiao had finished his instructions, Peng Yue changed the subject and said, "Commander-in-chief, judging from the number of Zhao's casualties and prisoners, although Zhao Wu'an escaped our ambush, he certainly did not take many soldiers with him."

"The Zhao army on the east side must be empty now!"

"Should our army continue to pursue and capture Shexian County?"

Ying Chengjiao shook his head: "Although our army has defeated Zhao Wuanjun's troops, we cannot let our guard down as long as we have not captured Zhao Wuanjun's head."

"Lord Zhao Wu'an personally led more than 100,000 soldiers to attack our Licheng."

"But there are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses attacking Liaoyang City."

"If we pursue the victory, our retreat route will be blocked by this group of troops, and our entire army will be wiped out!"

If Ying Chengjiao had 100,000 soldiers and horses now, he would choose to pursue the victory.

Unfortunately, Ying Chengjiao didn’t have it.

Facing a great general like Li Mu, if we rashly pursued the victory with a small number of troops, the final result would probably not be to expand the victory, but to lure the enemy into an ambush deep into the territory!
Peng Yue said with regret: "It's a pity that I failed to seal off all the mountain roads."

"It actually allowed Mr. Zhao Wuan to escape!"

"Such a good opportunity created by the coach was wasted!"

Ying Chengjiao smiled and said, "I am already satisfied with what I have gained from this battle."

"Quickly send this battle report back to the court, and send a copy to General Jian to boost the morale of our army."

"When the main force of our army arrives, we will confront Mr. Zhao Wuan in She County."

"General Jian will lead the army to attack through Jingxing and directly attack Handan!"

"Zhao must surrender!"

The greatest significance of this battle for the Qin State was not the killing or capture of more than 100,000 Zhao troops.

But defeated Li Mu!

This battle completely washed away the psychological pressure on the Qin soldiers caused by Li Mu's killing of the Qin general Xi in battle.

Ying Chengjiao believed that as long as he could tie up Li Mu in She County, Wang Jian's troops, with their morale greatly boosted, would be able to quickly break through Jingxing, rush to Handan, and sign a humiliating alliance with King Qian of Zhao!
As they were talking, a scout came galloping back along the Xing, shouting, "Commander-in-chief!"

"She County is empty!"

"Lord Zhao Wu'an has led his troops to withdraw eastwards to Shexian County!"

Ying Chengjiao looked at the scout in disbelief, and then asked repeatedly: "Have you found out the movement of the Zhao army in Liaoyang City?"

The scout hurried back to report: "The Zhao army on the Liaoyang City front is moving south along the Fukou Pass. I don't know whether they are heading for our army or She County."

Ying Chengjiao rubbed his brows and said, "The Zhao army has just been defeated, and the Liaoyang defenders led by Captain Meng Tian are watching with eager eyes."

"The Zhao army in Liaoyang City will definitely not fight to the death with our army immediately."

"But Zhao Wu'an Jun abandoned Shexian and withdrew his troops eastward."

"Mr. Zhao Wuan..."

The surrounding terrain and topography emerged in Ying Chengjiao's mind. Ying Chengjiao moved eastward along Shexian County, but he could not find any place suitable for the Zhao army's battlefield.

It was not until his thoughts moved to the east of Fukou Xing that the battle between Wang Jian and Li Mu in history came to mind, and Ying Chengjiao suddenly had an idea: "Could it be that they want to rely on Wu'an City and fight with our army at Xingkou?!"

(End of this chapter)