Jiuxi

Chapter 726 [Bluffing]

"General Pucha, do you remember the battle of Luwu Mountain?"

Facing the Jing army's unbridled laughter on the city wall, Lu Chen calmly waited for the laughter to stop, and then suddenly blurted out a sentence.

Chelimu and others couldn't help but look at Pucha.

The Battle of Luwu Mountain was the prelude to the Battle of Yongqiu. It was precisely because the tens of thousands of troops led by Pucha were defeated that Xiao Wangzhi was able to lead the elite troops of Dingzhou at that time to the main battlefield, and then Lu Chen took charge of all the strategic details, giving Qing Yugong the first major defeat in more than ten years.

After his scandal was exposed by Lu Chen in front of thousands of people, Pu Cha suddenly felt a little regretful that he should not have paid any attention to this person.

But if he remained silent at this time, it would undoubtedly hurt the morale of his own soldiers, so his mind raced, and Pucha said loudly: "Of course I remember. I admit that you and Xiao Wangzhi cooperated well and gained the upper hand in that battle, but so what? Victory and defeat are common in the military. If you can win at the foot of Luwu Mountain, my Dajing Iron Cavalry can also dominate the world! What's more, even the capital of your Southern Qi, which has been entrenched for more than a hundred years, is now within the territory of our dynasty. His Majesty of our dynasty specially named it Nanjing. I wonder if you like it?"

It must be said that he responded to these words calmly, neither being stubborn nor losing his dignity.

The soldiers of the Jing army around them all straightened their chests.

Unexpectedly, Lu Chen said slowly: "General Pucha has misunderstood. This governor has no intention to humiliate you, but just want to tell you one thing. The battle of Luwu Mountain is the key node of the Yongqiu War, just like the significance of Yaoshan Pass to this war today. If you can't defend Yaoshan Pass, Wu Yanshu must retreat in advance. This is destined."

"I didn't expect you to be so kind."

Pucha gradually got into the mood and sneered, "Does this count as treason, Governor Lu?"

"Of course not."

Lu Chen shook his head and raised his voice, "I just want to prove one thing. There are many people in this world who will not turn back until they hit the wall. You are one of them, Wu Yanshu is one of them, and so is your emperor. If he had let Qing Yugong take charge of the battlefield, I would definitely be a little timid, but he insisted on cutting off his own foundation. It's a pity that I can't end Qing Yugong's reputation as a military god with my own hands. It's a great pity, that's all."

"Arrogant person."

Pu Cha laughed in anger, and then sarcastically said: "After all, you just want to shake the morale of our army. I didn't expect that in just two years, the governor Lu who once fought bravely on the battlefield has become an ignorant villain who can only talk. Lu Chen, Yaoshan Pass is here, you can attack with all your strength!"

"Okay."

Lu Chen quickly took over the conversation and said with a smile: "How about we make a bet?"

Pucha narrowed his eyes slightly.

Lu Chen said loudly: "Within ten days, our army will definitely capture Yaoshan Pass. Then you can commit suicide to apologize."

At this time, Wu Yantuo, who was standing next to Pucha, could no longer bear it and said sternly, "Lu Chen, stop talking nonsense and show your ability on the battlefield!"

Lu Chen smiled and shook his head, then turned his horse's head and rode away with more than a thousand riders.

This brief challenge had little impact on the soldiers of Jing's army, and the expressions of several main generals varied.

They were not angered by Lu Chen's previous words. Even Che Limu, who had the most stubborn temperament, would not take such shouting in front of the battlefield seriously, let alone lose his mind because of it.

But a man's reputation is like the shadow of a tree. Since Lu Chen dared to openly announce the ten-day deadline, he must have something to rely on.

After the thousand-plus cavalrymen returned to the camp, there was no further movement from the Qi army. Pucha and others stayed there for a while before returning to the hall.

Wu Yantuo pondered and said, "Where does Lu Chen get the confidence from?"

Chelimu said: "Perhaps because of the war three years ago, he thinks the Qi army can use the same trick again?"

Wu Yantuo shook his head and said, "How can it be that easy? At the beginning, there were not enough troops inside the pass, and there was no support from the outside, so Lu Chen had to send troops to go around the pass and attack from both sides. Now there are enough troops inside the pass, and you are leading 20,000 troops to support the southwest. The Qi army has no choice but to attack head-on."

The hall suddenly fell silent.

After a moment, Pucha said slowly: "Don't forget, the Qi army once occupied Yaoshan Pass for a period of time."

At that time, Lu Chen led his troops to launch surprise attacks along the way. Before Jing and Qi reached negotiations, Heluo, Shenze, Anxian and Yaoshan Pass were all under the control of the Qi army.

Che Limu was startled and slapped his thigh angrily, "That's right! Could it be that the guy did something near the city wall? Did he have someone dig a tunnel? Or maybe he buried gunpowder in advance? Didn't he use gunpowder to destroy the city wall of Heluo before?"

Wu Yantuo sneered, "If we can think of this, can't the Prince of Changshan and the governor think of it? After the Qi army retreated three years ago, the prince asked skilled craftsmen and elite soldiers to conduct detailed surveys of the city defenses in various places in order to prevent the Qi army from leaving ambushes. Take Yaoshan Pass for example, every inch of land inside the pass has been carefully inspected, and there are no tunnels at all. The so-called gunpowder is even more impossible. Where in the world can gunpowder be buried underground for several years and still be effective?"

Chelimu couldn't help but nod in conviction.

Wu Yantuo added: "Your Highness has also used gunpowder in Yongqiu City, and has people researching ways to deal with it. Now there are listening jars under the city wall on the east side of Yaoshan Pass. As long as the Qi army shows signs of digging holes outside, our soldiers will pour water in and drown them alive. There is no need to worry about this."

Che Limu was completely relieved, and then frowned and asked: "Is Lu Chen just pretending?"

"No need to guess. It's just a matter of fighting back." After the conversation with Lu Chen, Pu Cha's originally uneasy heart calmed down. He said calmly: "Today we can confirm one thing. Lu Chen himself came to the outside of the pass. This is actually the most important information."

Wu Yantuo nodded and said, "Indeed, I believe that you, the Lord who stays behind, can deal with the enemies on the western front with more confidence."

Although they refused to admit it, they had already acknowledged the importance of Lu Chen as an enemy.

Since this person appeared outside Yaoshan Pass, it means that the focus of the Dingzhou Army will be on the eastern battlefield. More importantly, it is impossible for him to suddenly fly to the western front to take charge of the situation.

Pucha suddenly smiled, and his expression relaxed. "From what I've seen from Lu Chen's words and actions today, he was actually helpless. The main force of the Southern Qi Jingzhou Army suffered heavy losses in the battle of Kaocheng. They can no longer maintain their previous strength, and their defenses are bound to be leaky. If Lu Chen rashly sends troops to rescue Jingzhou, then he will be in the calculations of the garrison commander. He has only this one way, to force the garrison commander to withdraw his troops and send them back for assistance. But he also knows that Yaoshan Pass today is different from three years ago, and it is not so easy for him to attack by force, so he deliberately set up a confusing formation and set the so-called ten-day deadline."

At this point, he raised his eyebrows and said sternly: "I want to see how he can capture Yaoshan Pass within ten days!"

The three men immediately divided the work. Wu Yantuo led the Yaoshan Pass defenders to be on high alert, while Chelimu returned to the military camp in the southwest, ready to provide support from the flank according to the situation.

Pucha still stayed in Yaoshan Pass, while part of his cavalry began to cruise towards the periphery, so as not to miss any movement around the battlefield.

The Qi army's offensive arrived as expected.

At noon the next day, the Guangling army advanced several miles to the southwest and formed a battle formation. The intention was self-evident: to guard against a sudden counterattack by the 20,000 infantrymen under Chelimu.

The Lai'an army took the responsibility of the first attack.

The battle lasted for more than an hour, and in the end the Qi army returned without success.

Although the Qi army had extremely complete siege equipment and the soldiers were brave and courageous in fighting, Qing Yugong left very valuable wealth to the Jing army in the past few years.

Even though he is now far away in Dadu, the rules he set in the army and the strategy of vigorously learning the Qi army's equipment have made the Jing army's defense more handy. In addition, with the towering and solid walls and three-dimensional defense system of Yaoshan Pass, the Qi army really can't gain much advantage.

When the sound of the horn was sounded on the Qi army's position, the cheers of the Jing army on the city wall were like a tsunami.

In the next seven days, the Qi army launched four attacks, each more fierce than the last, but was never able to threaten the defenses of Yaoshan Pass.

On the last day of the ten-day period set by Lu Chen, the setting sun shone across the earth. The Qi army's sixth attack was fruitless, and they had no choice but to retreat.

At Yaoshan Pass, Pucha and Wuyantuo stood side by side. The setting sun in front of them looked like blood, but they both felt extremely happy.

Wu Yantuo sneered and said, "It's a pity that the great governor Lu didn't come to challenge us today. I really want to see his expression now."

Pucha didn't laugh, he just let out a long sigh.

These ten days seemed like a year to him. He often woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, fearing that someone would come to report that the Qi army had climbed onto the city wall.

The shadow of the battle of Luwu Mountain has not completely disappeared. He is still extremely wary of Lu Chen and has thought countless times about what kind of conspiracy and tricks the other party has.

"I have finally lived up to the trust of the Lord, but Lu Chen will surely be angry and the offensive of the Qi army will surely be more fierce. We still have to be careful."

Pucha did not dare to be careless, and then said: "But we can send another urgent report to the garrison commander, and he should be able to rest assured and continue to intensify the attack on Jingzhou."

……

a few days later.

On the western front, outside Taikang City.

Inside the central army tent, Wu Yanshu looked at the urgent military report in his hand and said slowly: "Yaoshan Pass is safe and sound, Lu Chen's efforts were in vain."

The general sitting below, Guiyou, could not help but beam with joy and said with a smile: "Sir, this is a double blessing!"

The so-called double happiness, one naturally refers to the military report in Wuyan Shu's hand, and the other is that Guyu finally led his troops to capture Xinping four days ago.

Now only Taikang City stands in the way of Jing's army's southward advance to attack Jingzhou and Yongqiu.

Wu Yanshu handed the military report to his personal soldiers, stood up and walked to the sand table, and said in a deep voice: "Double happiness? Not necessarily. In fact, I hope Lu Chen will lead the main force of the Dingzhou Army to rescue Liu Shouguang, so that the initiative on the battlefield will always be in our hands. But he refused to do so and insisted on tackling the hard bone of Yaoshan Pass. The so-called ten-day deadline is like a joke. The question is, will Lu Chen be such a fool who would disgrace himself?"

"What on earth does he want to do?"

Guiyou opened his mouth slightly, not knowing how to answer.

Wu Yanshu sighed softly, his brows furrowed.

(End of this chapter)