Chapter 899 A Final Battle
The place where the Great Wei and Beiling fought was a scene of broken walls and ruins, the land almost dyed red with blood, the torn flags of the two countries hung above the battlefield, broken arrows and remaining soldiers were swept by the wind and sand, and the two armies were stationed in the north and south around Luoyan Pass and the two cities that the Great Wei had previously lost, with a clear distinction between them.
Inside Luoyan Pass, in the general's mansion, Di Shuangcheng, who had just led his troops to repel a wave of attacks from Beiling, gathered around the sand table with a group of generals. He was tall and strong, with an unkempt beard on his face and dried blood on his armor, and his aura became even more fierce.
"I don't know what's wrong with those bastards in Beiling. They used to rest for two days after each fight, but these past few days they've been like crazy, fighting one fight after another without caring about their lives."
An old veteran next to Di Shuangcheng looked exhausted.
The Great Wei and Beiling had been fighting for quite a few years, and in fact, each side had roughly figured out the other's tactics. In the first two months, both sides had won and lost. After Beiling was tricked into taking away two empty cities and lost tens of thousands of troops, they learned their lesson. Even though they had many victories, they always took steady steps and dared not rush for advancement.
They all knew that in addition to the northwest battlefield, the court was also fighting with Southern Qi, so even if they suffered some losses, they tried their best to drag Beiling down, and almost formed a weird "tacit understanding" with Beiling, but who knew that the people of Beiling suddenly went crazy these days.
Before the previous wave of fighting stopped, the next wave followed. Even though many people died, they were tireless and refused to stop. They fought as if they were risking their lives, as if they wanted to drag them to death together.
"General, what's going on in Beiling?" The old general turned and looked at Di Shuangcheng. "Could it be that something went wrong in the Beiling army?"
"I've never seen them fight so recklessly before."
Marquis Wenxin's expression turned grim. "Those two empty cities fooled the Beiling people earlier. Now that they know our tactics, they're afraid we'll use them again to set an ambush, so they've turned around and concentrated their forces at Luoyan Pass, abandoning other places. But in the past few days, Beiling troops have appeared in Linping, Hexin, Changyan, and other places again."
"General Di, the court has previously withdrawn a lot of troops, and the outcome of the war in Southern Qi is unknown, so it will be difficult to provide support in the short term."
"We only have so many troops in the Northwest. If we disperse, Luoyan Pass will be difficult to defend. But if we don't disperse, Beiling will abandon Luoyan Pass and attack from all sides, hoping to use a small path to enter the country by surprise. By then, we will be unable to support ourselves. I'm afraid the entire Northwest will be engulfed in war and dragged into the battlefield by them."
Xiahou Ling from Beiling is a shameless man, and the military advisor Ji Rongqing who accompanied him is even more shameless. Originally, if they wanted to launch a large-scale attack on Luoyan Pass, it would be fine. The worst case scenario is that they would defend it to the death. With the strength of Zhen'an Army and Longting Guard, even if they cannot win, they can at least hold on.
But if they abandon Luoyan Pass, split up into smaller groups, and attack other border cities in batches, the entire northwest border will not only have Luoyan Pass as the only place that can set foot in the territory of Wei. At that time, they will have no choice but to send out the Zhen'an Army to stop them.
But without the Zhen'an Army, Luoyan Pass would definitely be lost.
Di Shuangcheng's brows were furrowed, and his eyes were full of changing expressions. "Beiling is heavily guarded, and our spies can't get in. But their frenzy is indeed a bit abnormal..." He listened and couldn't help but look aside. "Hang Li, what do you think about this?"
Hang Li was also wearing armor, his body was still stained with blood, and his face and head were covered in dust. Although he looked disheveled, his eyes were extremely sharp.
Hearing this, he glanced at the sand table and placed his sword at the places Fu Yue had just mentioned.
"Here, here, and here are all places where Beiling has launched sudden attacks in recent days. In addition to these places, the Beiling army has also sent troops in these two directions. However, judging by the fighting in various places, the combined forces in these places are probably less than 100,000."
"Beiling is sending all its forces south this time, and all the major tribes have assembled their forces. This means that Beiling still has around 150,000 troops outside Luoyan Pass."
The others' expressions changed slightly when they heard this.
Di Shuangcheng said, "Are you saying that Beiling is trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain?"
Hang Li shook his head: "Everyone knows the current situation in the northwest, and the people in Beiling naturally know it clearly."
"They must understand that if we don't send more troops to those locations, Beiling's scattered soldiers will be able to surround Luoyan Pass from the rear once they break through a few of them. At that time, we will be trapped by being attacked from both sides. But if we disperse our forces to block them, Beiling will take advantage of the situation and launch a large-scale attack on Luoyan Pass, and we will be unable to resist."
"But you haven't considered that, while this situation may seem disadvantageous to us, such a crazy move is actually equally disadvantageous to Beiling."
Di Shuangcheng frowned: "What do you mean?"
Marquis Wenxin also looked up and said, "Don't keep me in suspense. Tell me what the disadvantage is."
Hang Li smiled when he heard that, and he made a sword flower with the sword in his hand and inserted it into the scabbard at his waist.
"Beiling was able to suppress us before because they had a large army, far more than Wei, and their cavalry was too fierce. But now they are rushing to attack everywhere, and these places are very far apart. Naturally, they can only send out cavalry that can come and go like the wind."
"Beiling's forces are scattered, and most of their strongest cavalry have been dispatched. Given Xiahou Ling and Ji Rongqing's intentions, they shouldn't understand that if the Zhen'an Army were to abandon other areas and focus their fire outside Luoyan Pass, their remaining forces would suffer heavy losses, if not a disastrous defeat."
"If their main army is defeated, the only ones left trapped are those scattered cavalrymen. They're risking the entire Beiling, but they still do it. Why do you think that is?"
Marquis Wenxin suddenly had an idea: "Is there a problem in Beiling?"
"I remember last year, Beiling was plagued by drought and lacked water and grass. Before their army marched south, they slaughtered livestock to raise food supplies. Now the weather has warmed up, and they've been fighting for over two months. And earlier, you led your troops in a surprise attack and destroyed two of their granaries..."
He suddenly raised his head and clapped his hands.
"Beiling is running low on food and fodder!"
Di Shuangcheng frowned: "Even if we are short of food and grass, we shouldn't take such a risk as if we are going to fight to the death..."
"What if they received some news we didn't know about, forcing them to fight?"
Suddenly, a sound was heard from outside the door curtain. Everyone inside looked over there and saw Shi Changan in a long gown walking in from outside, followed by Zhang Bing and Tu Bai.
Everyone present knew them. Zhang Bing and the other two were one thing, as they were spies and confidants that His Majesty had left in Beiling earlier. Shi Changan was even more of a legendary figure to them. He had once turned Beiling upside down with his own efforts and brought stability to the Wei Dynasty for nearly ten years.
When the war started, Shi Chang'an came to the northwest with Marquis Wenxin. He sat in the army and became the military advisor of the Zhen'an Army, helping Di Shuangcheng and others to support the northwest. It was also because of his presence that they were able to delay the northwest battlefield with minimal losses, so that Beiling would win but gain no benefits.
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