Shanhe Festival 258. It is wrong to use cheats

Before the second watch, a group of young generals quietly led their troops out of the camp according to Ye Li's instructions. It's not that they are really convinced by Ye Li, the military strategist of unknown origin, but if they don't follow Ye Li, there will be no battle to fight. Since this is the case, they have to be more sensible and obey orders.

I don't know if this group of young people really have some ability or Zhang Qilan is being polite, but several young people actually led everyone out of the camp without missing a single one. When they stood in front of Ye Li, they raised their chins unconsciously, a little proud. Ye Li just smiled faintly, looked at the team of more than a thousand people in front of him, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Military advisor? What exactly are we going to do?" someone asked impatiently.

In the darkness of night, Ye Li spread a map on the ground, squatted down, pointed at several places on the map with the tinder in his hand and said: "There is a general leading people to attract the enemy's attention in front. You will climb up from these two places with me and go around the back of Jiantian Cliff." Someone frowned and said: "Since the military advisor has already made a plan, why didn't you tell us earlier? We can also send people to explore the way." Ye Li looked at him and smiled faintly: "Explore the way? Going to explore the way in broad daylight, do you think General Lu's people are like wooden stakes and can't find you?"

"But we can't see the road at night, how can we get there?" Although they didn't know the details, they roughly understood where the road was after taking a look at the location pointed out by the military advisor on the map. The terrain in this area is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It looks dangerous even during the day, let alone at night.

Ye Li stared at the young man who was speaking and said, "That's why I said... I can't guarantee that there won't be any casualties. This is a battlefield!"

Everyone was shocked. Yes, this was a battlefield. On a battlefield, not to mention groping in the dark, sometimes you have to sacrifice your life even though you know you will die.

Ye Li looked at them and said, "Those who don't want to go can return now. I'll give you half an hour to communicate with my subordinates. I want to make it clear that not only is it dangerous to climb up, but even if you reach Qiantian Cliff safely, it won't be smooth sailing. If you fail me on the way, I will use military law to deal with you!"

In less than half an hour, everyone returned to Ye Li. Seeing that no one in the team had retreated, Ye Li nodded with satisfaction and turned around and said, "Let's go!"

Although it was already the second watch, the night was not peaceful. The two armies were fighting fiercely on the hillside not far away. It was at this time that the group, led by Qin Feng and Ye Li, quietly climbed up the steep cliff path, with Wei Rui following at the end.

It was not a long distance, but it took the whole group of people an hour to climb up. Ye Li looked back at the young people whose clothes were in disarray but whose eyes were particularly bright under the moonlight, and nodded with satisfaction. Although their clothes were worn out by the rocks, branches and weeds on the mountain, and many people even had a lot of scratches on their faces, no one fell behind along the way, and there were no major mistakes that attracted the attention of the enemy. It seems that the Mohist army soldiers' daily training is still very good.

Because the entire mountain was guarded by enemy troops, and their group of more than a thousand people was not a small number, they became more cautious after going up the mountain. They avoided the enemy's eyes and ears along the way, and did not arrive at the destination until the fifth watch. As soon as they arrived at the destination, Ye Li had not yet said to rest on the spot, and several figures flashed in the shadows, scaring everyone and quickly grasped their weapons and were on full alert.

"Don't be nervous, we're one of us." The man waved his hand and said with a smile. The fifth watch is the darkest time before dawn, and everyone couldn't see the face of the man clearly, so they didn't dare to let down their guard. Ye Li said calmly, "Feng San." Feng Zhiyao walked in slowly and said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to make it here. I thought if you couldn't make it, we would have to do it ourselves." After walking in, everyone saw clearly that the man was not Feng Zhiyao.

"General Feng, why are you here?"

Feng Zhiyao said with a smile: "I have been here since the beginning, waiting for you. Master Chu, you have worked hard?" Ye Li rolled her eyes at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Feng Zhiyao said, "Lü Jinxian intends to defend Jiantian Cliff to the death. He currently has about 30,000 troops under his command, of which there are only 2,000 Black Cloud Cavalry at most." Jiantian Cliff is a strategic location, and Black Cloud Cavalry cannot be deployed here at all, and leaving too many behind would be a waste. Feng Zhiyao looked at the team behind Ye Li and frowned, "Why are there only so few people?"

Ye Li said, "Do you think it's easy to bring people up? These people are the most limited. If we wait until dawn, we will definitely be discovered. Although we have made some cover-ups, the enemy may find traces of us coming up after dawn." With a group of new soldiers, the cover-ups on the road will naturally not be very clever. If the patrolling soldiers of the enemy have sharp eyes, they will most likely find traces of a large number of people walking along the road.

Feng Zhiyao knew that he was being too demanding, so he looked at Ye Li and asked, "I only have 3,000 people here, what should I do?"

Ye Li smiled and said, "It's nothing to do. Let's set a fire behind them now. If General Zhang can grasp the opportunity well, he should be able to rush up."

Feng Zhiyao nodded and said, "Let's do it this way." Ye Li turned around and glanced at the people behind him and said, "Rest here for half an hour, and then set off."

The young general behind him said: "Commander, we are not tired, we can start now!"

Ye Li glanced at him calmly, "Who cares if you are tired? General Zhang and his men will have another fight soon. Let's take action before dawn, create chaos and then evacuate before daybreak." The young general blushed after speaking rashly, and sat down to rest awkwardly.

Feng Zhiyao stood aside, looking at the group of young men behind Ye Li with interest, and said with a smile: "It seems that Master Chu also has trouble getting by sometimes?" Feng Zhiyao's eyes naturally saw that these young generals were not completely convinced by Ye Li. Ye Li was too lazy to roll his eyes, and walked to a big tree to sit down and rest against the tree, "I can't help but disappoint Master Feng San."

Noticing that Ye Li was not in a good mood, Feng Zhiyao touched his nose and turned around to find a place to close his eyes and rest.

In the temporary tent outside Jiantian Cliff, Lu Jinxian sat in a chair with his eyes closed and resting. The generals beside him all looked angry, "With these continuous sneak attacks every night, do we still have time to rest?"

Not to mention that Zhang Qilan's subordinates have been very depressed these days, Lu Jinxian is also not at ease. They have taken advantage of the terrain and are in a high position. Basically, the Eastern Army has to pay at least five or six people to hurt one of them, and Zhang Qilan will never fight them to the death here. There is nothing wrong during the day, but at night the enemy keeps making trouble. At night, you can't see them, and if you are not careful, the enemy can get close to you, so the soldiers who are not stationed have to be extremely alert. After all, no one knows whether the enemy is just testing this time or will really rush forward. After a few days, both sides couldn't help but get angry.

"General, the prince sent a letter by express horse." Someone outside the tent reported.

Lu Jinxian opened his eyes and glanced at the people who were making a fuss, and said in a deep voice, "Come in."

A soldier came in and handed over a letter. Lu Jinxian opened it and read it, then his brows slowly furrowed.

The other generals changed their expressions and asked hurriedly, "General, what does the prince want?"

Lu Jinxian passed the letter to a deputy general under him. The deputy general was also stunned after reading it, and looked at Lu Jinxian in confusion and said, "Your Majesty, remind the generals to be careful of the princess?"

Others were also reading the letter. Lu Jinxian frowned and said, "Come to think of it, the princess seems to have not shown up in the army in the past few days." Speaking of the princess, although she is a woman, these generals who have fought on the battlefield still show respect. Not only because the princess's military talents are different from those of ordinary women, but also because the princess has done a lot for the entire Mohist army in the past few years. For example, the promotion of soldiers, the soldiers' food and wages, the placement of wounded soldiers, and even the organization of the army. Many effective methods were proposed and implemented by the princess. So in the eyes of these soldiers, Princess Ding is definitely not just an ordinary princess, but one of the true controllers of the Mohist army.

The fact that the prince wrote a special letter to remind them made everyone pay more attention to Princess Ding. But at this time... they didn't know what Princess Ding was doing. At this time, Lu Jinxian realized that he had overlooked an important person. It's not that Lu Jinxian thought Ye Li was better than Zhang Qilan in deploying troops, but Zhang Qilan had worked with him for more than ten years after all, and they had a general understanding of each other. But Princess Ding was someone they didn't know at all. The only thing they knew about Princess Ding was the battle that defeated King Zhennan a few years ago. Of course, that battle was enough to make any general look at her differently. As the Art of War says, knowing yourself and the enemy will ensure victory in a hundred battles. For some reason, Lu Jinxian suddenly felt vaguely uneasy.

Just as he lowered his head and thought about something, he heard the noise of weapons and fighting in the distance. Soon, the soldiers outside came to report, "General, the enemy is attacking again."

"Fight back! Remind the soldiers at the front not to take it lightly." Lu Jinxian slammed the letter on the table, stood up and took the lead to walk out of the tent.

Far away from where Jian Tianya was unwilling to go, Ye Li looked down from above at the place where the fire was faintly lit in the distance, and at Jian Tianya who was still quiet behind him. He slowly raised a smile and said in a deep voice: "Go ahead."

"yes."

Soon, flames shot up from the Jiantian Cliff. The originally quiet place gradually became noisy.

"General, look!" Lu Jinxian, who had just walked out of the tent, looked back. The sky-high flames rising from the cliff made his heart sink. He thought, he knew where Princess Ding had gone.

"General, it's Jiantianya... someone is attacking us?!"

"Damn it, how did they get there!" There was a commotion in front of the big tent. Lu Jinxian frowned and said in a deep voice: "Shut up! Deputy General, hold here, I will lead the troops back to reinforce." Because he didn't know how many people the other side had on Jiantian Cliff, Lu Jinxian was unwilling to take the risk and had to lead the troops back to reinforce. He had more than 30,000 men, but only 6,000 to 7,000 were left on Jiantian Cliff. Once Jiantian Cliff was lost, it would be meaningless for them to stay here. Everyone didn't dare to argue anymore, and quickly responded to mobilize their own troops.

Zhang Qilan, who was at the bottom of the hill, also saw the fire in the distance. Of course, it was not the fire on the cliff, but a signal sent by Ye Li. A smile finally appeared on his calm and resolute face, and he shouted: "Beat the drum!" Before dawn, the drums were deafening in the dark night, and soldiers rushed up the hillside like a tide amid shouts of killing. Lu Jinxian, who was riding back at full speed, also heard the fighting behind him, and a hint of helplessness appeared on his lips. The prince reminded me too late, one careless move...

At this time, there was also chaos on Jiantian Cliff. The soldiers who were still asleep got up in a hurry to fight the enemy, but they were no match for the soldiers who were holding their breath and waiting to attack. Moreover, these people had no intention of fighting to the death with them. They lit a fire and ran away. If they met the enemy, they would fight if they could, and if they couldn't fight, they would run away. The soldiers who were awakened from their sleep were furious, but they couldn't think as well as the others, so they could only fight without thinking in the chaos.

Not far from the battlefield, the firelight could clearly see the battlefield in front of them. Feng Zhiyao stood beside Ye Li and smiled at the soldiers fighting hard below, and asked with a smile: "These guys are good. It would be great if they could be as brave as this on the battlefield."

Not only the generals at the grassroots level were young people, but even the ordinary soldiers were mostly new recruits who had joined the Mohist Army in recent years. Although the veterans of the Mohist Army could not be said to have experienced many battles, most of them had fought on the battlefield several times. For them, such an exercise was far less important than for these new recruits.

Some of the soldiers were still fighting with swords and guns in the firelight, while others had already rolled to the ground and were fighting in a group. Some even used tricks such as strangling the throat and biting the ears. No wonder the third son of Feng, who always paid attention to his manners even on the battlefield, was laughing with joy.

Ye Li looked down calmly and said calmly: "At least it can help them get familiar with the situation so that they won't panic when they go to the battlefield. The new soldiers are always the ones who die the fastest on the battlefield."

Feng Zhiyao stopped smiling and nodded, saying, "The princess is right... General Lu is back." A strange roar came from the night sky, Feng Zhiyao's expression froze, and he said in a daze. Ye Li nodded, looked up at the sky and said, "It's getting late, let's retreat." Feng Zhiyao frowned and said, "But General Zhang..." Ye Li said, "Lu Jinxian should at least call back half of his troops. If General Zhang still can't attack, we can't do anything. When General Lu's men arrive, we can't leave. Go up the mountain." Feng Zhiyao was helpless, knowing that what Ye Li said was true, so he had to send a signal to order the troops to withdraw.

The young generals who were in high spirits of killing were forcibly brought back, and each of them was as restless as a pony.

When Lu Jinxian hurried back to the camp on Jiantian Cliff, the sky had completely cleared. The originally neat and tidy camp looked like it had been burned by a fire and ravaged by bandits. Looking at the large group of dead soldiers sitting in the center of the camp, Lu Jinxian's face became even uglier after not sleeping all night. "Who is your general? How many people are there?" Lu Jinxian asked in a deep voice, staring at an Eastern Army soldier who was sitting among his soldiers and chatting with someone.

The soldier was stunned for a moment, then quickly replied: "General, I have been killed in the battle!" The dead cannot speak.

Lu Jinxian couldn't help but twist his face, snorted coldly and walked away. The soldier frowned with some worry, his face full of confusion. He didn't say anything to make General Lu angry, right?

Twenty miles away, a fierce battle for position continued on the hillside. However, the defenders, who suddenly lost half of their troops, gradually began to show a losing trend. On the Jiantian Cliff, it was another scene. The Eastern Army came to besiege from time to time, and even if they were beaten back by the Western Army, they would not fight to the death. They would retreat to rest and then come back to continue fighting. If it was on the plain, such a provocative attack would be a dead end, but on the Jiantian Cliff, where the rocks are rugged and the roads are rugged, sometimes there is actually no difference between 10,000 people and 3,000 people.

By the time Lu Jinxian had a thorough understanding of the enemy's forces, excluding those who had died in the previous battles and were living in his camp for free, there were less than 4,000 people, but it was too late to regret. Because these 4,000 people firmly occupied the main road leading to the outside reinforcements. Tens of thousands of people could only watch helplessly as their own troops were slowly wiped out by the enemy 20 miles away.

Frustrated, Lu Jinxian vowed to annihilate this group of people on Jiantian Cliff. So a complicated battle for position began on Jiantian Cliff. The main road leading out was only a small area, and both sides could not send out their entire army, so the Western Army occupied the intersection, and the troops that went out to reinforce were suppressed and beaten by the Eastern Army before they could leave the pass. The Eastern Army occupied the intersection, and within half an hour, the Western Army rushed up again and continued to fight. Both sides suffered countless casualties, and the most peculiar thing was that during the battle, both sides fought to the death and did everything they could.

But once it is determined that they are killed in battle, everyone becomes good brothers again, and everyone sits aside and continues to watch their comrades fight.

The battle lasted until the afternoon of that day. The two armies fought over the small pass four or five times, and both sides suffered heavy losses. Ye Li and Feng Zhiyao had less than two thousand soldiers left out of the original four thousand, and Lu Jinxian also lost nearly three thousand soldiers. But if Zhang Qilan couldn't defeat the enemy in front before tomorrow morning, they would be completely wiped out. So after seeing the signal sent by Zhang Qilan, Ye Li and Feng Zhiyao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, while Lu Jinxian's face darkened. The pass ahead had been broken, and it was meaningless to cling to the pass in front of him. Lu Jinxian snorted and withdrew his troops back to the camp with a gloomy face.

Looking at Lu Jinxian's departing back from afar, Feng Zhiyao sat on a large smooth rock and laughed.

Ye Li sat aside and glanced at him and asked, "What makes Mr. Feng San so funny?"

Feng Zhiyao sat up and said, "What else can you say? Didn't Princess see the look on Lu Jinxian's face? Haha... That guy has always claimed to be the best at using troops under the King of the Mohist Army, and he is only slightly more convinced of Zhang Qilan. But now General Zhang is still more than twenty miles away. He has been fighting for a whole day and still doesn't know who his opponent is. Do you think he can look happy?"

Ye Li shook her head helplessly and said, "We are lucky this time. If General Zhang had arrived a few hours later, Third Master Feng, I am afraid that you and I would have become General Lu's captives in the end."

Feng Zhiyao touched his nose and complained, "Why didn't the princess let Qilin join the battle?"

Ye Li smiled at him and said, "This is a rehearsal. If you are rehearsing with cheats, you might as well be acting."

Cheats? What is that?