"Lord——"
"Lord, we've spotted Shen Tujiu's army ahead!"
Xu Mu, who was drinking a water bottle, was happy when he heard the scout's information.
"Where?"
"Under the mountains. Now, Shentu is leading his men to continue marching in the direction of Chen Shuiguan!"
Xu Mu frowned.
His plan was originally to intercept and kill Shen Tujiu, thus easing Lao Huang's dilemma of being attacked from both sides.
"Have you checked the terrain of the nearby area?"
"I checked. This is the map drawn by the scout."
Taking the map, Xu Mu looked at it carefully. The markings on the map are not complicated or exquisite, but after all, they record the nearby terrain extremely accurately.
Xu Mu looked at it, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"My lord, it looks like he has an idea?"
Xu Mu smiled and nodded, "Brother Sheng, please look, there is a snake path in the mountains nearby."
Snake path refers to the long and narrow walkway between two mountains, which is extremely suitable for ambushes.
"My lord, what do you mean, do you want the men and horses who have been slaughtered to be driven into the snake road and trapped to death? But according to the mark on the map, the mountains on both sides of the snake road are towering into the clouds and extremely steep. It is difficult to climb."
"No need to climb." Xu Mu shook his head, "All we need to do is send out a hundred scouts, detour as quickly as possible, and set fire to block the road at the other end of the exit. Then Shentu's army will be completely trapped and killed. .”
There is a fire blocking the front, and there is a pursuing army from Xi Shu in the rear. Unless it is said that these soldiers Shen Tujiu can grow wings and fly out at once.
"Brother Sheng, how many horses are there?"
Even when crossing the river, Xu Mu transported more than 300 horses to facilitate the scouts' investigation. Now it seems that these horses are going to be of great use.
"Lord, there are more than two hundred horses left."
Xu Mu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Choose elite cavalry and send a hundred of them to go around the front of the enemy. They bluffed and cooperated with the main army behind to force Shentu into the snake path. In addition, he sent out another hundred cavalry and marched to the front of the enemy. I mean, go around to the exit at the other end of the snake path first."
This time, if the interception and killing of Shentu is successful, the rest of the Beiyu troops rushing to Chenshui Pass will also slow down their rush to rescue.
…
Along the forest road under the mountains, Shentu's face was filled with silence. According to his own military advisor, there was no problem with his direction this time.
"General, the Shu people are chasing us again!"
Just as Shentu was thinking about this, he suddenly heard news from the scouts at the rear. He gritted his teeth and had no choice but to continue leading the army in the direction of Chen Shuiguan.
"Quickly, march in the direction of Chenshui Pass. If you encounter a forest, find a way to enter the forest to avoid the pursuit of the Shu people."
Unfortunately, it seemed to be a nightmare, and it didn't take long before I heard the intelligence from the scouts ahead.
"General, another Shu army was discovered in front of where we are waiting!"
"Do you know the number of people?"
"I don't know the number yet, but the shadows of the trees are swaying. I guess there are quite a few Shu people lurking in the forest, waiting for my army to pass by."
At this moment, the several generals around Shentu all looked anxious. They couldn't figure out how these Shu people's army could reach the front so quickly.
"General, what should we do? There are Shu troops in front and behind!"
"General, if I remember correctly, when we walked over, there was a passage in the mountains. If not-"
"Are you a fool? Do you know the art of war?" Shentu gritted his teeth, "If we enter the snake path and encounter an ambush, we will definitely die."
The general who spoke was so shocked that he didn't dare to raise his head.
But at this moment, bursts of flying arrows suddenly shot out from all around. Many Beiyu soldiers on the flanks screamed and fell into a pool of blood.
"Enemy attack——"
…
Standing on a high ground, Xu Mu kept an eye on the enemy's movements with a calm gaze. As he expected, even though he was at the end of his rope, Shen Tujiu still did not choose to run into the snake path. Instead, he organized his army and tried to continue to escape.
For some reason, Xu Mu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this scene. From this point of view, there is no problem with Shentu's defeat. If he had violated a military taboo by running into the snake path to escape early, then the pursuit would be worth considering.
"Brother Sheng, pass on my military order and use all means to force Shentu's troops into the snake path!"
Relying solely on encirclement and killing would not only take too long, but would also incur a lot of battle losses. After all, Shen Tujiu still had more than 10,000 troops in his hands, and his military strength was only slightly behind.
If they were forced into the snake path, then it would take almost no effort to block this group of people directly in it.
With wolves in front and tigers behind, the more than 10,000 Northern Chongqing troops under the mountains seemed to be at the end of their rope. As a last resort, Shentu had no choice but to form a formation to resist the onslaught of the Shu people.
But even Shentu himself didn't realize that his entire Beiyu army was fighting and retreating, and seemed to be very close to the entrance of the snake path.
…
"Shentu is just a bait. This bait is to lure the enemy into defeat." After getting off the carriage and entering the forest, Chang Sheng said coldly.
At this time, he raised his head and moved forward, and saw more than a dozen Tibetan cavalry riding towards him in surprise.
"Shentu entered the Snake Path, so in order to intercept and kill him, King Xu Shu will also follow him into the Snake Path. Although he is smart, but in this situation, there are scouts probing, and I never imagined that I will always win here. There is still a large army nearby, waiting for him to enter the urn."
"When I show up with my men and horses, Shen Tujiu, who was fleeing on the snake path, will change his direction and try his best to block King Xu Shu's way forward. Of course, I, Chang Sheng, will also block King Xu Shu's way back. Stay. As a result, King Xu Shu’s twenty thousand people will be trapped in the Snake Road."
Yan Pi, who followed, thought for a moment and said, "Little military advisor, if King Xu Shu continues to march, Shentu will not be able to stop him."
Chang Sheng smiled and said, "In such a terrain, as long as you are not a fool and know how to take advantage of the steepness of the snake road, you can block King Xu Shu. Not to mention the 20,000 Shu soldiers, but if you kill King Xu Shu, Western Shu will There will definitely be chaos. Of course, before killing King Xu Shu, I still need to complete one thing. This thing is also a trap to lure Qingfeng from Chen Shuiguan out to be the savior."
Yan Pi's face was excited, "The military counselor's brilliant plan!"
"Winter is approaching now. According to the past situation, there will probably be snow in this area. Even if I am trapped and don't attack, King Xu Shu will die here due to lack of food and clothing. These two mountains are extremely steep, and he Even if you want to climb, you still can’t succeed.”
For this plan, he did not hesitate to step down from the post of military advisor and traveled from west to east, and then from north to south, covering almost half of the entire territory of Beiyu.
But in the end, hard work paid off, and his plan seemed to be successful.
