Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2329 The Han army suffers a defeat at Tianmen Pass, Bai Qi leads his army to the southwest.

At Tianmen Pass, Chang Yuchun launched a fierce attack for half a month. Generals such as Yang Jian, Deng Jiugong, Zhao Yun, and Pallas took turns fighting, resulting in the loss of nearly 10,000 soldiers. However, the enemy's casualties were less than one-third of theirs.

In fact, during this half-month period, even the Han army's deputy general Hulü Jin and colonel Gongsun Yue were shot and killed by the three commanders of the Divine Bow Battalion.

However, with a master archer like Xue Rengui in the Han Dynasty, they naturally wouldn't allow the Divine Bow Battalion to be so rampant.

Xue Rengui personally took action, shooting and killing Mingwei, a veteran general who had been one of Zhao Changfeng's right-hand men since the Zhenxi period, in order to demoralize the Song army and teach the Divine Bow Battalion a lesson.

In just half a month, the Han army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, and they barely even made it to the gate a few times.

Although the Song Dynasty's army dwindled from a peak of 600,000 to only 180,000 within a single year, the presence of Tianmen Pass was enough to offset this numerical disadvantage.

The relentless attack over the past two weeks caused Xue Rengui, Li Jing, Chang Yuchun, and the others to feel a chill in their hearts.

If things continue like this, unless Zhao Kuangyin himself has internal problems, even if he continues to attack in this way, even if his hundreds of thousands of troops are wiped out, can he wipe out the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Zhao Song dynasty?
Faced with such a challenge, even god-level commanders like Xue Rengui, Li Jing, and Bai Qi would have no good solutions if the opposing commander didn't make any mistakes.

"General Xue, the attack on Tianmen Pass has resulted in such heavy casualties!"

"Should we take a different route?" Li Jing asked hesitantly from inside the tent.

"Pharmacist, do you intend to attack Dali first?"

"Then head north from Dali?" Xue Rengui turned his gaze to the map, which was slightly off to the south of the Song Dynasty.

Of the four sides of the Kansai Road, only the western side, the side closest to Dawu, is a flat road with no natural defenses.

The north side is backed by mountains and bordered by water, and the terrain is treacherous, not much better than Tianmen Pass. Attacking from that direction would be more troublesome than fighting a direct confrontation at Tianmen Pass.

The only place we can take advantage of is the south. Although there are some mountainous areas to the south, and the terrain is still quite rugged, it is still easier to fight there than the Tianmen Pass.

Furthermore, opening up another front could force Zhao Kuangyin to disperse his already limited forces.

However, the south of Guanzhong is now the territory of the Dali Kingdom, which means that if they want to attack Guanzhong from this direction, they must first invade Dali's territory.

The former alliance of eight dynasties has only lasted for a little over a year, but under Xu Xiao's attack, five kingdoms have already been destroyed in succession.

Dali was one of the few remaining kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms, but its existence was precarious.

Once they enter Dali at this point, they are bound to have further friction with Dawu.

Therefore, they are not worried about Dali; Dawu is what they need to consider.

On Su Dingfang's side, after that decisive battle, he finally managed to reach a stalemate with Da Wu, and neither of them could gain the upper hand.

At this point, they naturally had to consider the risk of opening another battlefield with Da Wu. After all, this represented an uncontrollable change.

"War is a matter of vital importance to the state; how can we be timid and hesitant!" "If it were the early stages of the campaign against Yan, our Great Han would naturally be wary of the Great Wu, but now that the Xuanyuan Yan has been destroyed, the Zhao Song is merely clinging to life!"

"At this point, why should we fear any friction with the Great Wu?"

"Furthermore, although the Great Wu has been recuperating for three years and is now strong, the Yuan Mongols and the Golden Horde to the north have completely annexed the remnants of the Murong tribe. Does the Great Wu really dare to wage a full-scale war against our Great Han?"

"This humble general is willing to lead 100,000 troops to attack Dali and encircle the Zhao Song!" Bai Qi said resolutely at this moment.

More than two years ago, Da Wu was in a state of recuperation and was unwilling to fight with all his might.

Two years later, although they have had three years of recuperation, the war between them and the north has ended, and the pressure on the border has increased again.

Furthermore, the Han people are not what they used to be!
In the early stages of the campaign against Yan, they faced an army of over a million from Zhao Song and Xuanyuan Yan, and possibly even an army of nearly 300,000 from Zhennan.

Therefore, they are wary of going to war with Da Wu!
But what's the situation now?
With Xuanyuan Yan gone, the Zhao Song dynasty was left with only a few hundred thousand soldiers! The million-strong army had been wiped out.

Zhennan was also destroyed, and the remnants joined the Han Dynasty. Although Jiang Chaoyu replaced Zhennan, Jiang Chaoyu was now surrounded on three sides, and as outsiders, they had no popular support.

In the long run, Jiang Chaoyu poses a greater threat to the Han Dynasty than Zhennan, but in the short term, he is definitely not as powerful as Zhennan.

Moreover, after eliminating so many enemies, they could now mobilize the local militia in many places without restraint.

If they wanted, they could easily send another 200,000 to 300,000 men into the battlefield, but it was simply unnecessary.

Li Jing and Xue Rengui certainly understood this principle as well. However, unlike Bai Qi, Bai Qi was far less politically astute in this regard than the two of them.

Opening up a new battlefield rashly, and potentially causing further friction with a powerful dynasty like Da Wu, or even risking a full-scale war, is a major decision that cannot be made by them alone.

However, now that Bai Qi is willing to take the lead, Li Jing and Xue Rengui are happy to oblige.

After all, given their inability to breach Tianmen Pass, opening a breach in the southern part of the Guanzhong Plain is currently the most readily apparent and feasible solution.

Therefore, from then on, Bai Qi finally got the opportunity to lead an army independently.

Moreover, Xue Rengui gave him a full 15 troops, which he led south, intending to turn west back to Dali and drive straight into Dali.

As for Xue Rengui and Li Jing, they also submitted memorials to Wang Yu and the central court to explain the situation and complete the necessary procedures.

The reason they didn't ask for permission before sending troops was because Xu Xiao's advance was extremely fast. If they waited until the proper procedures were completed before sending troops, Dali might not even exist by then.

Attacking Dali is a completely different matter from directly attacking Dawu!
If they wait until Dawu occupies Dali before attacking, the benefits and significance of opening this battle line will not be as great.

On Xue Rengui's side, in addition to giving Bai Qi 150,000 troops, generals such as Alcyoneus, Pallas, and Zhao Yun were also transferred to his command.