Shen Lie nodded slightly: "You don't need brave warriors who are not afraid of death, but villains who are crazier than poison soldiers. Only by being more ferocious than the devil can you completely conquer the devil!"
Murong Xue looked at Shen Lie with slight surprise, and hesitated: "In order to destroy the poison soldiers, but to cultivate another demon, is this... worth it?"
"Who told us to encounter such a world?" Shen Lie said lightly: "In order to prevent Shengtang from falling into hell, we have to fall into hell ourselves."
He stared into Murong Xue's eyes: "If you let me take command, I will not leave the battlefield in Luoyi. Instead, I will use bait to lure all the poisonous soldiers in the city to a desperate situation, and use the soaring weapons to Gather the fierce fire and annihilate it!"
Murong Xue was stunned: "This is a good idea, but what do you mean by bait?"
Shen Lie sneered: "What else could it be? Of course it's a living person! Don't those evil spirits like to eat people the most?"
Murong Xue's back felt cold. He felt that standing in front of him was a demon that was a hundred times crazier and more ferocious than the Poison Soldier.
Shen Lie had already guessed that he would react this way, and continued: "Of course, the living people cannot be the people of our Shengtang. Didn't the Duhu Mansion also capture many Turks? Use them!"
Murong Xue was silent for a moment and asked, "Is there any other way?"
"Yes." Shen Lie nodded: "If you are reluctant to use bait, then treat the entire Luoyi City as a desperate situation, seal it from all sides, and burn it all with fire!"
Murong Xue once again showed an expression of disbelief, and after a long time he said: "Fortunately, His Highness asked me to go, instead of letting you go. Shen Changshi, these methods of yours are too decisive. Living bait, burning the city with flames... It gives me chills to think about it.”
Shen Lie smiled coldly: "Murong Xue, a woman's kindness cannot deal with poisonous soldiers! If you don't believe it, just try it according to your own ideas."
After that, he cupped his hands and said goodbye, turned around and walked away gracefully, leaving Murong Xue standing alone under the tree in a daze.
Early the next morning, Murong Xue packed up, left Xiangzhou with the guards, and went straight to the front line.
The Liaodong Protectorate and Hebei soldiers received the order and learned that he had come to take command in person. Several generals rushed to Xingyang to wait for his instructions.
As soon as Murong Xue arrived at the place, he didn't say much nonsense and directly proposed his plan to Chang Tao, Li Mi Zhi and others: to select experienced veterans from various armies to form a death squad with a size of 10,000, led by him personally. Enter Luoyi to eliminate monsters. Chang Tao and the others were well prepared, especially craftsmen and materials, to advance into Dongdu and repair the fortifications at any time.
Chang Tao knew that Murong Xue was the most trusted minister of the prince, so he proposed that he command the death squad while Murong Xue stayed behind to hold the battle. But Murong Xue rejected his kindness on the spot and still insisted on going into battle in person.
To be honest, compared with the two plans mentioned by Shen Lie, the plan of leading the veteran suicide squad was a satisfactory and relatively mild method, and Murong Xue was not particularly confident.
Because of this, he was unwilling to let others take this risk.
Since they have been confronting the main Turkic forces before, all the frontline troops are in a state of high combat readiness, so it is naturally very convenient to select manpower. In just two days, 10,000 elite veterans gathered outside Xingyang City.
Murong Xue was dressed in silver-white armor, with an iron bow hanging on her back. She sat upright on her horse and delivered a morale-boosting speech to the warriors who were surrounded by mountains and seas in front of her.
In fact, everyone already knew their mission at this time, and they had also heard about the tragic disaster that had happened in Zhongmu and other places in Luoyi before, so there was no need for Murong Xue to mobilize, and they were all filled with indignation and impassioned.
Seeing the veterans of the death squads raising their arms and shouting, the shouts resounding in the sky, their morale had reached its peak, Murong Xue could not help but be deeply affected and inspired. He waved his riding whip forward and immediately led the entire army towards the west.
The distance from Xingyang to Luoyi is only about two hundred miles. The death squads, which are mainly infantry, can reach it in about two days by normal march.
However, Murong Xue and the others had been walking for three days, but they had not even seen the shadow of Luoyi City.
The reason is simple. In the vast area east of Luoyi, poisonous soldiers and evil spirits have appeared at this time.
Although the number of those monsters was not large, sometimes seven or eight scattered around, sometimes even just one, but because the poison soldiers appeared very frequently, sudden encounters occurred one after another, and the troops had to stop frequently. , surrounded and killed the demons who were eating the corpses of the people.
After dozens of consecutive battles, Murong Xue discovered a serious problem: Although the regular army was powerful and the poisonous soldiers encountered them, no one could escape the fate of being dismembered. However, these demons were terrifying in appearance, crazy and terrifying. His actions and those heinous acts of cannibalism still caused great mental stimulation to the soldiers.
Another point is the astonishing battle loss ratio.
For every poisonous ghost killed, the death squads usually have to pay the price of five or six casualties. Even with the protection of armor and shields, it is difficult to avoid being scratched and bitten by the monster.
This is just a small number of poisonous soldiers who slipped out of Luoyi, and they are already so terrifying. So what kind of scene there are with thousands of demons and ghosts in Dongdu City is terrifying to think about.
The whole team walked and fought, and finally arrived at the outskirts of Luoyi on the night of the third day.
Four or five miles further ahead is the East City Gate.
To be on the safe side, Murong Xue decided to let the army camp here first, rest for a night, and then go into the city to fight at dawn tomorrow.
As we get closer to our destination, the tension in the army becomes more intense. Those poison soldiers are really terrifying. Not only does he look scary, but he is also bloodthirsty and not afraid of sword wounds. When he goes crazy, he can disembowel a person directly, put the heart, liver, spleen and lungs into his mouth, chew and swallow them. This is exactly what appears in folk ghost stories. That kind of monster.
It is no exaggeration to say that even when facing the Blood Guards of the Turkic Great Khan, the soldiers were not as panicked as they were now. Not much of the heroic ambition they had when they set out was now gone.
Murong Xue knew in his heart that a war was imminent, and it would be very dangerous to be in this state up and down, so after he personally arranged the patrol posts at night, he began to patrol team by team, chatting and cheering with the soldiers.
Unexpectedly, he had only walked through seven or eight tents when the westernmost camp suddenly became chaotic.
Murong Xue was startled and quickly asked her men to go see what was going on. After a while, her men came back and reported: A large number of monsters came from the direction of Luoyi and attacked the military camp!
Following the words, the screams and screams from the west became louder and louder, and then the entire camp exploded. Many soldiers who had fallen asleep woke up from their dreams, picked up their weapons and got out of the tents, huddled together in the camp.
In the darkness, it was unclear how many poisonous soldiers had broken in, let alone where they were. I could only feel that people were screaming from all directions, and the sound of fierce fighting could not be heard.
An officer jumped onto the cart carrying grain and fodder, brandished his sword and kept shouting: "Don't mess around! Find your captain and form a formation! Form a formation!"
However, before he could finish his words, a black shadow suddenly appeared from the corner next to him, instantly throwing him to the ground and chewing off a large piece of flesh on his face with one click. The officer's head and face were dripping with blood. He was shocked and in pain. He howled miserably while desperately resisting the monster's attack. Immediately afterwards, seven or eight evil ghost-like poisonous soldiers also rushed out from the same direction, clawing and biting the surrounding soldiers, scaring everyone and running away.
This situation has spread throughout the camp. There are many people resisting on the spot, but even more people are trying to escape.
In the dim night, the frightened soldiers were no better than the people in Luoyi City before.
Murong Xue rushed outside with a sword in hand. Seeing her subordinates in a mess, she quickly said to the adjutant next to her: "Go beat the drum! Beat the drum!"
The so-called rushing drum is a combat signal of the Shengtang army. On the battlefield, whenever the huge war drums emit a heavy sound like rain, the soldiers of Shengtang will act upon the order and launch a fierce charge towards the enemy.
Even if there is an abyss ahead, keep moving forward.
For those well-trained soldiers, beating drums to advance and retreating with gold medals have long been a conditioned reflex deeply ingrained in their bones, and they work better than any order.
Sure enough, more than a dozen drummers climbed onto the wooden platform in the dark and beat the drums with all their strength. The passionate drumbeats instantly spread for miles, shocking people. The originally chaotic military tent camp soon erupted into chaos. The cry of killing.
Although the soldiers were still frightened in their hearts, their fighting spirits were awakened in an instant.
At the same time, many soldiers lit blazing torches, and the evil spirits were no longer sneak attackers hiding in the dark, but became targets exposed to the light. The death squads formed groups of three and five, temporarily organized into battle groups, and launched an attack against the ferocious-looking poison soldiers.
The battle in the camp did not last long. The Shengtang army stabilized their position and began to counterattack. The poisonous soldiers quickly retreated, leaving behind a large number of corpses of their companions and fleeing in panic.
At dawn, Murong Xueh ordered his subordinates to strengthen their defenses while cleaning the battlefield and counting losses. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t count it. Once he counted it, he was shocked! In just half an hour of fighting last night, the death squads actually killed more than 630 people and injured more than 2,000 people, of whom at least 30% were seriously injured!
As for the poison soldiers, there were only 217 corpses cleared out of the entire camp.
Murong Xue couldn't help but feel heavy in her heart: We haven't entered Luoyi City yet, and only a small group of poisonous soldiers came last night. The entire army lost a quarter of its combat strength. How difficult will the subsequent battle be? He couldn't even imagine it.
