Water Margin people

Chapter 1509 Virtual and Real

"What? Arrive this afternoon? What are you exploring? Yesterday you said it would take five or six days, how come we're already here today!"

Ibrahim was furious and smashed the luminous cup in his hand. He had just enjoyed the day, and just when he relaxed, the enemy appeared before him?

"Khan, the enemy's light cavalry suddenly sped up their march yesterday, and we just came here to report it. This is already the fastest we can do."

The scout quickly said that their cavalry's speed was limited, and it was already a great effort for them to arrive before the enemy's light cavalry.

"Blow the horn!"

Ibrahim immediately gave the order.

The sound of the horn echoed throughout the entire Xingxing Gorge. The soldiers who had just relaxed immediately became nervous and hurriedly took up their weapons to defend themselves.

"The enemy is coming, cheer up!"

Ibrahim shouted to the soldiers.

The soldiers looked confused. They had just been ordered to rest for a few days, but the enemy came immediately.

"Smoke!"

"cavalry!"

Without waiting for the soldiers to ask, the soldiers on the top of the mountain had already started shouting, waving flags and blowing horns to warn.

The soldiers then looked into the distance and saw a huge cloud of smoke and dust, like a sandstorm, which showed the terrifying power of the enemy cavalry.

Ibrahim looked at the huge smoke and dust and became very confused. This was not the kind of noise that ten thousand light cavalry could create.

"Really only 10,000 light cavalry?"

Ibrahim asked, looking at the scout beside him.

"It's really only ten thousand!"

the scout replied.

"You're telling me there are only 10,000 of them?"

Ibrahim pointed to the scale of the smoke in the distance.

"I don't know either... there are really only 10,000 people!"

The scout also began to doubt himself. What he heard was not as good as what he saw. The scale of the enemy he saw now was at least 30,000 to 50,000.

The defenders in Xingxing Gorge were very nervous. It was already dusk, and the light of the setting sun was scattered on the Gobi Desert. The blood-red color made everyone feel an indescribable worry.

"Haha, our method should work!"

Lu Fang said with a big laugh.

"The sand and rocks on this Gobi Desert are soft, and a lot of dust and smoke will rise just by pulling!"

Guo Sheng also laughed.

In order to boost morale, Lu Fang and Guo Sheng ordered the army to line up and march with heavy objects tied to them by ropes. These objects would immediately stir up a lot of smoke and dust as they rubbed against the Gobi Desert, making the army look like an army of 50,000.

As the saying goes, "If you look at the mountain, you will die if you run too fast." Although Lu Fang and Guo Sheng had already seen Xingxing Mountain, they would definitely not be able to reach it before dark.

Similarly, the army on Xingxing Mountain could only watch the enemy rushing towards them, but the distance was actually very far away.

The sun gradually sank below the horizon and darkness enveloped the earth.

"Khan, what should we do? It's dark now and we can't see anything!"

The generals looked towards Ibrahim in panic. Just now they were concentrating on watching the enemy coming towards them, but as the sun went down, the enemy was also obscured by the night, and now they were completely in the dark!

"Light a fire, and give some light!"

A general spoke.

"No, once the torches are lit, our deployment will be completely exposed. By then, the enemy will be in the dark and we will be in the light. How can we fight this battle?"

Someone immediately objected. "Why not light the fire? We can't see anything now, we won't even know the enemy is coming!"

That's how the quarrel began.

Ibrahim was very annoyed. He looked up at the sky. Logically, there should have been a full moon today, and they would have been able to easily see the enemy under the moonlight. But for some reason, the sky was very cloudy today, completely blocking the moonlight.

"Stop arguing and light a fire where no one is!"

Ibrahim shouted to the crowd that they had to light a fire for illumination. They were the defenders and the fire would allow them to spot the enemy. Since they did not want to expose their own military deployment, they had to give the enemy a false impression.

In Xingxing Gorge, mountains after mountains were lit up with fires, but the light from the fires was limited after all, and it was impossible to see the situation clearly below the mountain. However, the fires gave the defenders great confidence, and fire was hope in the dark night.

Lu Fang and Guo Sheng gathered the army after dark. They did not light torches, but hid in the darkness.

"Rest where you are, and send out scouts to sweep the surroundings!"

Lu Fang gave orders to the army, saying that they had already intimidated the enemy today and the enemy would definitely not sleep well tonight.

"Is the fire started already?"

Guo Sheng smiled as the Starry Sky lit up, and the enemy was frightened.

Nothing happened during the night. At dawn, Ibrahim and his army looked at the enemy in the distance with dark circles under their eyes.

"Really 10,000 people? Impossible? The force yesterday must have been 50,000 people! The enemy must have split up their forces and there must be ambushes around."

Ibrahim looked at the enemy's formation in disbelief.

But there was a flat Gobi Desert below Xingxing Gorge, where no one could hide, unless the enemy knew how to dig holes and hide underground.

"Where's the scout?"

Ibrahim yelled.

"Khan, the scouts we sent out last night haven't come back yet. They must have been killed by the enemy!"

A general spoke.

"They're all trash!"

Ibrahim gritted his teeth and said that the scout was killed by the enemy in the dark, which meant that the scout was unqualified.

"Go, ask Juerhan for help!"

Ibrahim spoke to a general and said that he had sent the news of the enemy coming to Xingxing Gorge to Hami a long time ago. Now that the enemy was so strange, he had to ask for help.

Lu Fang and Guo Sheng led their army slowly towards Xingxing Gorge.

"Listen, foreigners above. Our Celestial Empire is conquering those who are not loyal to us. If you repent now, you still have a chance to survive. If you resist stubbornly, you will die!"

Lu Fang shouted towards Xingxing Gorge.

"You bunch of weak and hypocritical Orientals, this is my Western Liao territory. I, Turkmen Ilek (King of the Turkic Barbarians), order you to retreat immediately, or today will be the day you die!"

Ibrahim also shouted unceremoniously. He saw clearly that there were only 10,000 cavalrymen below. He was no longer panicked at this time. These 10,000 people could not take Xingxing Gorge.

Lu Fang and Guo Sheng didn't say much, and led the cavalry to patrol below Xingxing Gorge. Every time the army reached a pass, the defenders above would become nervous.

But the army patrolled for a long time and had no intention of attacking the pass.

"Are you looking for a flaw? Humph, where would there be a flaw in the pass I'm guarding?"

Ibrahim sneered. He saw through the enemy's intention, but he was not worried at all. With one hundred thousand troops guarding the Xingxing Gorge, not to mention the army, even a bird could not get through.

"Khan, why don't we go down and fight? The enemy only has so few people, we can destroy them in one battle!"

When some people saw that the enemy was small in number, they immediately became interested. They all saw the excellent equipment of the Qi army and wanted to snatch it away immediately.

"No, our mission is to defend Xingxing Gorge. The enemy may have deliberately lured us out!"

Ibrahim shook his head. He was still a little worried about the enemy's tricks. If it were him, he would not dare to hang around in front of 100,000 enemies with 10,000 cavalrymen.