Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2074 Li Er's Conferment of Gods War: Capturing Two Kings in One Battle
Li Chen, Mu Shaohua, Yuwen Ke, and Li Hualong are all top-tier experts at the level of divine generals.

Li Xinan, Li Haotian, and Li Keyong are also formidable. The first two are both at the peak of the Heavenly level, while the latter is a master at the Divine General level.

The first two, even at the peak of the Heavenly level, possess absolute strength, their combat power no weaker than that of a true Divine General. Of course, they are only the weaker of the two.

As for Li Keyong, he merged the general's spirit and battle soul of Li Keyong from the late Tang Dynasty, and within a few short years, he jumped from a top-tier general to a master of god-like status.

Given Li Keyong's age, the fact that he made such progress in just a few years has astonished many people, as it is indeed somewhat illogical.

However, in this vast world, there are always some martial artists who have their own opportunities.

Although some people want to investigate, unfortunately, neither the Li clan of the past nor the Li Tang dynasty of the present can be investigated at will.

During the late Tang Dynasty, Li Keyong was ranked alongside Tantai Yu, Guo Duanfu, Luo Hongxin, and Zhang Churang as one of the Five Elders of the Late Tang. Their strengths were almost equal, and even if there were some differences in strength, the gap was not large. Overall, they were masters of the same level.

However, compared to the other four, Li Keyong's shelf life was clearly shorter.

As Li Keyong aged, his combat prowess declined drastically, almost to the point of being surpassed by the rising stars, the Sixteen Heroes.

Now, these seven people working together are almost equivalent to seven god-generals in terms of combat power. It was only by combining the strength of the seven that they were able to finally defeat Shi Huang.

It can be said that Shi Huang, by his own strength, has already tied down more than two-thirds of Li Xu's front-line generals.

However, while Shi Huang was strong, he was not strong enough to directly affect the overall battle situation. Even someone like Ye Shangjue could not withstand the encirclement and attack of the troops and almost fell into Zhuge Li's Nine-Bend Eight Trigrams Formation, let alone Shi Huang.

Moreover, Li Tang is not without its own advantages.

While the Wei dynasty certainly had more powerful generals, the Tang dynasty had even more capable generals.

Even though the remaining two of the three great generals, Li Ji and Li Shimin, were not in the army on the expedition, Li Cunsi, a god-level commander, served as Li Xu's deputy general.

Although it is almost impossible for two god-level commanders to produce a result greater than the sum of its parts, after all, there are very few top commanders like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing who have completely different styles and have reached this level in military strategy.

Most top commanders may have slightly different styles, but they rarely have any fatal weaknesses, although it is impossible for one person to completely complement another.

However, at least, even if two people working together cannot produce an effect greater than two, it is at least greater than one.

Both sides had their own advantages, making it extremely difficult to determine a winner. In fact, this entanglement lasted for more than a year. On the front lines, neither side could gain the upper hand.

Whether it's a renowned general like Li Xu or Guo Shiguang, these commanders who excel at leading large armies are all very methodical and steady, never giving others a chance to act easily.

The happiest person in this battle was naturally Yang Jian, because with the Li Tang forces on their side, things were much easier.

Meanwhile, the Da Xiao people were also happy to watch the spectacle. The Li Tang dynasty was wasting its national resources there, and they were pleased with that as well.

However, Li Shimin and Li Longji, who were within the Li Tang dynasty, were extremely worried.

Initially, within the Li Tang dynasty, a group represented by Li Shimin, Li Longji, and Li Siyuan were not advocates of war, but rather advocated for recuperation and development.

Unfortunately, Emperor Li Hao supported the pro-war faction.

Now that the overall tone had been set, even if these people had different opinions, they could only follow the main theme. That's why Li Longji was running around trying to contact Yang Jian.

Even so, after more than a year of stalemate without any results, Li Shimin and others were clearly getting anxious.

Even before its founding, the Tang Dynasty was in a state of constant warfare, which weakened the nation. This is why Li Shimin and his contemporaries insisted on recuperating and rebuilding the nation.

However, after more than a year of fighting on the front lines, there had been no results. This burden was far too heavy for the Li Tang dynasty. Now, due to years of war, the Li Tang people were impoverished, and public resentment was boiling over. This was a sign of impending national demise.

In fact, at this time, Emperor Li Hao of the Tang Dynasty was also extremely regretful.

He supports the pro-war faction only because he wants to take advantage of the internal strife in Wei.

He did not disagree with Li Shimin and others' advocacy of recuperation and restoration, nor did he fail to see the importance of recuperation and restoration for the Li Tang dynasty after years of war.

However, the Great Xiao's national strength far surpasses that of the Tang Dynasty. Even with both sides undergoing periods of recuperation and development, the gap in national power between the Tang and Great Xiao will only widen. The conventional approach is not feasible if the Tang Dynasty wants to close the power gap with Great Xiao.

However, they didn't want to take the conventional path, but the consequences of not being able to play the game were too great for them. This battle, in particular, made the Li Tang dynasty weaker and weaker with each defeat.

At this point, Li Hao no longer wanted to fight. This country could no longer afford for him to continue fighting like this. With his political acumen, he could see the consequences of continuing this meaningless war.

However, it seemed that Li Shimin was determined to go against Li Hao's wishes.

When Li Hao supported the pro-war faction, Li Shimin advocated for recuperation and development. Now, Li Hao wants a ceasefire, but Li Shimin wants to continue the war.

Li Shimin's current idea is the same as Li Hao's idea more than a year ago: Da Xiao had a period of recuperation for nearly a year before launching a major campaign against Wei.

But their Great Tang Dynasty fought such a damned war for a year, a war with no results whatsoever.

Given the current disparity in national strength between the Tang Dynasty and the Great Xiao, the Tang Dynasty can only try to win this battle by any means necessary, to tear a piece of flesh from the Great Wei and make up for the loss of national strength.

To this end, Li Shimin did his utmost to finally persuade Li Hao, and thus began the most risky battle in his military history.

Li Shimin didn't need many soldiers, only 10,000.

Firstly, not only is most of Li Tang's military force now under Li Xu's command, but the remaining forces also need to guard against Da Xiao, and they also need to be careful against Da Xia.

Secondly, if it involves a large-scale troop movement, it's not enough to simply report a number and have them transferred directly from various locations. That would take real time for them to gather together from all over the country.

The larger the number of troops, the longer it takes to assemble them before the battle.

Thirdly, a smaller number of troops would allow them to remain hidden from the Wei Dynasty. After all, quality is more important than quantity in warfare. Among these 10,000 men, there were not only 3,000 Xuanjia Iron Cavalry meticulously trained by Li Shimin, but also 7,000 infantrymen, all elite soldiers who were far superior to ordinary troops.

In fact, Li Shimin's Xuanjia Iron Cavalry numbered more than three thousand, but for this battle, they needed to climb mountains, and Li Shimin couldn't possibly lead a pure cavalry force up a mountain with him.

Li Shimin did not take this army of 10,000 to join up with Li Xu, since it would be pointless.

Even if he went, he wouldn't be able to help Li Xu in any way.

Commanding troops in battle is different from individual brawling. If individuals were to engage in brawling, for example, Li Cunxiao would be on par with Kratos, and Li Yuanba would also be on par with Kratos. In that case, Li Cunxiao and Li Yuanba together could truly defeat Kratos.

They were capable of commanding troops in battle. If Li Xu and Guo Shiguang were evenly matched, and Li Shimin was also evenly matched with Guo Shiguang, then Li Shimin and Li Xu together might not necessarily be able to easily defeat Guo Shiguang.

Individuals act violently, but when two people join forces, it's a true case of two people working together.

But what's the use of having a god-like commander if you can't increase the number of troops under your command?

Commanding troops in battle relies on collective strength. If the collective strength is insufficient, even if there were ten more Li Shimins, let alone one more, a 300,000-strong army could not exert the capabilities of a 600,000-strong army.

Li Shimin, on the other hand, took a different path.

There is more than one route between Tang and Wei, and one of them has not been traversed by troops for almost a century.

Along this road stands the Hulao Pass, known as the most dangerous pass in the world.

Hulao Pass was not actually the most formidable pass in the world. Although this road was not the first choice for people from Xia to Wei, it was not completely impassable.

However, subsequent geological changes transformed Hulao Pass into the most dangerous pass in the world. Even a garrison of one or two thousand men at this pass would be enough to deter an army of one hundred thousand.

However, this pass is in a rather awkward position. Although it is strategically located, even in the present Tang Dynasty, there are more than one route to the Great Wei, not to mention the previous route from the Great Xia to the Great Wei.

Even if Hulao Pass is dangerous, I can simply take another route.

Li Shimin chose this very path.

He first ordered his three thousand armored cavalry to conceal themselves among the mountains near Hulao Pass. Meanwhile, he led his seven thousand infantrymen across the Wilderness Mountain.

The difficulty of crossing the Savage Mountain is equivalent to that of Wei Yan traversing the Ziwu Valley and Deng Ai traversing the Yinping Pass. After crossing the Savage Mountain, although one can appear after Hulao Pass, what is the use of appearing after Hulao Pass?

Wei Yan's decision to march through the Ziwu Valley was not only based on his hope that he could complete the journey in ten days, but also on his hope that Cao Wei, having secured the fortified city of Chang'an, would abandon the city and flee.

Furthermore, it is necessary for Prime Minister Cheng's main force to arrive at the designated location in time; otherwise, even if he captures Chang'an, he will inevitably face a siege.

If he fails to meet even one of these requirements, he will surely die without a burial place.

As for Deng Ai's successful march through Yinping, one reason was that the garrison commander of Youcheng, Ma Miao, surrendered without resistance, allowing this isolated army to receive supplies.

Secondly, Zhuge Zhan did not defend Mianzhu but instead went out to fight in the field. Thirdly, Liu Shan surrendered directly.

If any one of these links had gone wrong, history would have had a very different outcome.

Even if Li Shimin crossed the Savage Mountain, how many of his troops would be left?
After all, the number of troops crossing the Wilderness Mountain could not possibly be too large! If the number of troops were truly significant, they would have already been detected by the Wei army before they even made this move.

Once the element of surprise is lost, this step becomes meaningless. That's why Li Shimin only brought such a small number of troops to this battle.

With such a small force, they suffered heavy losses after crossing the Wilderness Mountain. They had no supplies, so what could they do even after reaching Hulao Pass?
Moving forward, such a small force could not possibly capture Hulao Pass. And if they moved backward, even if they entered the Great Wei, they would not be able to cause any trouble and would be easily wiped out by David's army.

However, the great achievements of countless people throughout history have indeed been inseparable from the factor of luck, in addition to their own abilities.

Deng Ai's journey through Yinping was like this, and so was Li Shimin's crossing of the Wilderness Mountain.

Li Shimin led seven thousand men to cross the Savage Mountain, but of these seven thousand elite Tang soldiers, less than a thousand remained after successfully crossing it. Even Li Shimin himself broke a leg during the process.

After that, with the help of the Bad People, Li Shimin led this army to successfully raid a grain transport unit, which was the same unit that transported grain to Hulao Pass every month, and thus replenished his own supplies.

There are some unscrupulous people who have already figured out the timing and scale of the monthly shipments from the Great Wei to Hulao Pass.

After that, Li Shimin led his men to disguise themselves as this grain transport corps, tricked the gates of Hulao Pass open, and caught the guards of Hulao Pass off guard, ultimately succeeding in capturing the pass.

In fact, Li Shimin's success in capturing Hulao Pass after crossing the Luren Mountain was largely due to luck.

Hulao Pass had been peaceful for too many years, to the point that no one in the Great Wei believed that the Great Tang would tamper with this route.

Although the Wei state still maintains a garrison of 3,000 troops here to ensure the defense of this pass, they rarely station top-tier generals here anymore.

The current garrison commander at Hulao Pass is a typical aristocratic general who was demoted here after making a mistake. The current commander of Hulao Pass committed a serious error, but not one that would lead to execution, so he could only face this near-exile.

Therefore, after taking office, with no hope for his future, he simply gave up completely, spending his days eating, drinking, and having fun, with no thought whatsoever for defense. He even indulged in idle pleasures. Of course, he clearly didn't believe there would be any enemy troops present.

If the generals act this way, the soldiers below will follow suit even more closely.

As a result, when Li Shimin's troops disguised themselves as a grain transport unit, the guards at the checkpoint didn't even bother to check them and just let them in.

After that, when Li Shimin led his troops to launch the attack, the general guarding Hulao Pass was still drunk, and no one organized the troops to resist.

In this way, even if the number of garrison troops is less than the number of troops around you, the pass still falls into Li Shimin's hands.

Of course, for Li Shimin, taking Hulao Pass was not the end. It would not change the situation of the Tang Dynasty. What followed was another legendary aspect of his battle: capturing two kings in one battle.