After passing through Tongtian Gorge, Liu Jin did not let the soldiers rest. Instead, he asked them to pursue the victory and attack Laojun Temple as soon as possible. Therefore, the soldiers had to rush all night.
Because Laojun Mountain is steep and the lighting is poor, many soldiers rolled down the mountain as soon as their feet were empty while walking, causing a large number of unnecessary attrition.
After walking for a short time, we came to the fifth level - Heavenly Road.
Tianlu is also a plank road hanging between the mountains, with a total length of three miles, winding and undulating, straight into the sky, hence its name.
When Xiang Nan and others retreated, they had completely demolished the sky road.
Therefore, the soldiers stood at the starting point of the Tianlu Road, looking at the long damaged plank road, and their hearts were full of despair.
Previously in Stone Forest, they paid the price of more than a thousand people to build a plank road of more than 300 meters.
But now this road to heaven is so far that you can't even see the end, and even if ten thousand people fill it, they won't be able to stop it.
Therefore, everyone is timid and hesitates to move forward.
Seeing this, Liu Jin couldn't help but look extremely ugly.
I didn't expect that the terrain of Laojun Mountain is so dangerous, and it is difficult to pass one pass after another. His army was almost half lost.
Such a huge loss made him heartbroken.
What made him even more angry was that the rebels were unscathed. Even until now, he has never seen their true faces.
After fighting for a long time, there were heavy casualties, but we didn't even know who the opponent was or how many people there were. It was really frustrating!
"Father-in-law, what should I do?" asked the temporarily promoted deputy sword commander.
"Order people to cut down the trees as soon as possible and repair the plank road." Liu Jin immediately ordered, "Tell the brothers that if you pass this level, you can enter Laojun Temple. At that time, I will give you a large reward."
"Yes." The vice-captain said immediately.
All the soldiers couldn't help complaining when they saw that they had finally crossed Tongtian Gorge, but Liu Jin did not allow them to rest at all, and had to cut down trees to repair the plank road.
They have been attacking the mountain since dawn, and it has been almost ten hours now. They have not eaten or rested, and they are almost exhausted. What's even worse is that it's unknown how many people will die while the plank road is being repaired.
Therefore, many soldiers sneaked down the mountain and ran away secretly under the pretext of going to cut wood. At the beginning, it was just a few running around. Later, whole groups of soldiers appeared and fled.
When we checked again in the early morning, we found that out of the 6,000-strong army, there were only less than 5,000 people left.
Liu Jin was naturally furious after hearing the deputy sword commander's report. Even before there was a fight, those soldiers were so frightened that they fled, which was simply a shame.
After he captured Laojun Temple and executed all the Taijimen in Lingchi, he had to capture all the deserters and hang them one by one in front of the gate of the military camp.
…
After daybreak, Liu Jin continued to order people to repair the plank road.
"Just wait and see, that's the Laojun Temple. As long as we attack it, I will give you a big reward." He pointed to the magnificent Taoist temple on the top of the mountain.
Looking up from the starting point of the Tianlu, you can just see the Laojun Temple on the top of the peak. The straight-line distance is probably less than 300 meters, and it is literally right in front of you.
However, because all the plank roads have been demolished, the straight-line distance of only 300 meters is probably not enough to fill 3,000 people.
When the soldiers heard Liu Jin's words, they couldn't get any motivation at all.
As the saying goes, one can make great progress, then it will weaken, and three times it will be exhausted. They had been frustrated several times and had killed and injured countless brothers. And their lives will probably be ruined before they know it.
In this case, Liu Jin's so-called reward is just drawing cakes to satisfy his hunger. Even if they were trusting at first, they would be sober now.
Therefore, the next attack by the officers and soldiers seemed fierce, but in fact it was just for official business.
When they stepped forward to build the plank road, as long as Xiang Nan and others threw stones down, the soldiers would immediately retreat. Then, under the urging of the supervising team, he came back again. And when a stone is thrown from above, he immediately runs back.
After repeating this process over and over again, with the sun rising high in the sky, the plank road was less than fifty meters long. It could be said that there was no progress at all.
When Liu Jin saw this, he was naturally furious and wanted to kill several soldiers as a warning, but was finally persuaded by his subordinates.
"My father-in-law, please calm down. Now that the brothers are exhausted and their morale is low, killing others to establish power will be counterproductive. It is better to let the brothers rest for the time being and eat and drink before fighting again." The subordinate advised.
Liu Jin thought for a while and had to agree, "By the way, have the grain and grass been transferred?"
"We have applied for grain transfer from Songxian, Ruyang, and Yichuan counties, and it is expected to arrive soon." The deputy director reported quickly.
Xiang Nan and Jun Bao started a fire and burned Liu Jin's food and grass. Although the fire was eventually extinguished, there were heavy losses in food and grass, and thousands of stones of food and grass were lost.
The army needs a lot of food and grass every day, after all, thousands of people eat. Moreover, when marching and fighting, physical strength is doubled, so the food and grass needed are also doubled.
Therefore, when the grain and grass were burned, Liu Jin immediately ordered people to go to the granaries in surrounding counties to adjust the grain.
"Huh, how far are three counties from here? Day and night, the food and grass have been delayed. I think the three county magistrates don't want to wear the hats on their heads."
But in fact, Liu Jin misunderstood the three county officials.
With Liu Jin's status as a guard eunuch, how dare the three county officials disobey his orders. After receiving the order to adjust the grain, they immediately organized manpower, opened the granary, and transported the grain to the camp.
It's a pity that something happened while the food was being transported.
Because Liu Jin often did many evil things and oppressed good people, the people suffered greatly, and their anger could no longer be suppressed. All it takes is one call of heroic men and a hundred responses to rise up.
This time, Liu Jin led his army to conquer Taijimen, which resulted in a lack of military strength. Therefore, Taoist Ling took the opportunity to organize the villagers to fight, dig traps and set up ambushes.
There are pits everywhere on the dozens of miles of road. The convoy transporting grain stopped every step of the way. The road that originally only took one day to cover took only two days to cover more than ten miles.
What's even more troublesome is that there are heroes and martyrs who lead people to fight and steal all the food. Therefore, the thousands of stones of grain mobilized by the three counties were gone before they reached the camp.
…
Because the army was too exhausted and morale was low, Liu Jin had no choice but to allow them to rest where they were. At the same time, he ordered people to bring the food up quickly.
But unexpectedly, before the meal came, the quartermaster came first.
Reported to Liu Jin that the military rations had been robbed.
"What?! A bunch of trash!" Liu Jin stretched out his hand and slapped the general's face all over.
It's really a joke that the army is out and there is no food and grass.
"My father-in-law, calm down, there are really too many rebels. Ruyang County sent 300 soldiers to escort the grain, but they were all robbed and killed by the rebels on the way." The quartermaster explained.
"Then if you don't go ahead and send a large army to protect you," Liu Jin ordered.
The soldiers had not eaten for two days and one night. If they stayed up any longer, they would mutiny.
"The grain depots in Ruyang, Songxian, and Yichuan are already empty. If you want to adjust grain, you can only go back to Luoyang." The quartermaster explained, "It takes another day to get there and back."
"Then hurry up and go." Liu Jin yelled immediately.
The quartermaster could only nod.
