The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 78: Life and Death Determine This Moment

Jinshan East, Northeast Pass.

It is one of the most suitable mountain passes in the Jinzhou Mountains for a large army to pass through, and it is also the place where the main force of Xiao Simo's army attacked.

It was already dark, the moon was rising over the mountain, and the valley was filled with a nauseating, strong smell of blood, like an invisible mist that took a long time to dissipate.

Broken weapons were scattered on the ground in a disorderly manner, with broken blades and spears crisscrossing each other, and some were deeply embedded in the soil.

The dark red blood clots on it emit a cold and hard luster under the moonlight, telling of the fierce battle that once took place.

Under the moonlight, the figures of the Naiman people can still be seen from time to time in the valley and on the mountains on both sides.

To the east of the valley is the Naiman camp.

It is like a giant beast lurking in the mountains and forests, stretching for miles.

Once the Northern Frontier Army is discovered attacking the valley, the soldiers in the camp will quickly rush out to provide support in the valley.

The Naiman people took advantage of the terrain and made this Jinshan area almost impregnable.

However, at this moment, the camp was filled with a heavy atmosphere.

From time to time, one could hear the Naiman soldiers wailing softly.

"What the hell is Xiao Simo doing?"

"They were hiding in hiding a few days ago, but the attacks have become so fierce in the past two days."

In the wounded camp, Naiman Prince Qu Chulu walked out of a wounded tent with a very ugly face.

For a whole day, the Northern Frontier Army and the Naiman people fought fiercely for the peaks on both sides of the valley.

During this process, Qu Chulu personally supervised the battle and successfully repelled the Northern Frontier Army before dark.

However, the Naimans also suffered heavy casualties during this day.

The entire camp for wounded soldiers was filled with miserable cries, and many soldiers even needed amputations to survive.

This made the young Prince Quchulu feel very heavy in his heart.

"Perhaps, Xiao Simo's reinforcements have arrived." Naiman Lao Jiang Keke Xuewu said in a deep voice.

But little did they know that Xiao Simo was trying to cover for Li Xiao and attract as much Naiman force as possible to the mountain pass.

"Xiao Simo is going to fight with us!"

"There is no deep hatred." Qu Chulu said angrily.

Isn’t it just supporting the Karluk rebellion behind the scenes?

Since he hadn't succeeded anyway, Xiao Simo still refused to give in. It was simply too much.

"When will our reinforcements arrive?" asked Qu Chulu.

At present, there are only about 15,000 Naiman people in Jinshan. Although they occupy advantageous terrain, they will not be able to withstand the pressure for a long time.

"It's hard to say." Kexuewu shook his head.

He still hasn't received any news of reinforcements, and in fact he has no hope for them anymore.

The Naimans were known as the overlords of the Mongolian Plateau and had a population of over one hundred thousand.

However, the territory is also vast, the troops are relatively scattered, and sometimes they are stretched thin.

Moreover, the Naiman people did not have only the Western Liao as their enemy. The Kerey tribe in the east was also a rival of the Naiman tribe, and that tribe was also a grassland overlord that was no weaker than the Naiman tribe.

The feud between the two tribes can be traced back to the time of Qu Chulu's grandfather.

At that time, Wang Han of the Kerait tribe had just ascended the throne and people were in turmoil. The Naiman tribe saw an opportunity and supported Wang Han's brother in his attempt to split the Kerait tribe.

Unfortunately, it ultimately failed. Instead, after the death of the old Khan of the Naiman tribe, the two brothers of Taiyang Khan split the Naiman tribe, which may have been planned by Wang Han.

Thus, the feud between the two departments began.

When the Naiman tribe was fighting with the Northern Frontier Army, they had to send more troops to the eastern border to prevent the Kerait tribe from taking advantage of the situation.

"It's not a solution to keep wasting time in Jinshan and Xiao Simo. We must find a way to end the war as soon as possible." Qu Chulu said.

Suddenly, an idea came to mind: "Maybe we can give them a night attack."

Upon hearing this, the old Naiman general Keksuewu's face changed.

He quickly spoke up to stop this young, impulsive and whimsical prince.

"Your Highness, you cannot do that."

"Xiao Simo is the grandson of Xiao Wulila. He is well versed in Xiao Wulila's military tactics and will never give us the opportunity to launch a night attack."

"Perhaps he has already ambushed us in the camp, waiting for us to attack at night."

But Kexuwu dared not let Qu Chulu give blind orders, otherwise he would become the modern Lian Po.

A lifetime of fame was ruined by a villain.

Seeing that Kekseuwu disagreed with his idea, Quchulu had no choice.

After all, he is the commander of the army, and he was just sent to the battlefield to learn.

"Your Highness, although we can't afford to waste time, Xiao Simo can't afford to waste time even more in Jinshan."

"As long as we hold the mountain pass, Xiao Simo's army will retreat back to Yinshan before winter." Kexuewu said in a deep voice.

He was not just a military commander, he also studied the politics of Western Liao. I heard that the relationship between Xiao Simo and Jurhan of Western Liao was not so harmonious.

Would Yelu Zhilugu watch Xiao Simo achieve great achievements and threaten his position?
"All right!"

"General Kexuewu is right. This is a mature and prudent strategy." Qu Chulu nodded and said.

Although he wanted to demonstrate his military talent in order to gain greater power.

But it is equally important to win over the old general Kekseuwu.

He has quite a lot of brothers.

……

On the evening of that day, when the Northern Frontier Army retreated from the northeastern mountain pass, the army led by Li Xiao entered from the Alailing Pass and crossed smoothly.

"It's finally out."

When the towering peaks on both sides slowly disappeared and the scene before him turned into an undulating mountainous area again, Li Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the road in the Alailing Pass is relatively smooth, it is not easy to walk on because of the rocks at the foot.

You also have to worry about the dangers of the mountains on both sides.

Although Li Xiao had sent people to investigate in advance and found that the Naiman people were not stationed here, this dangerous terrain still made people nervous.

At this moment, Li Xiao was able to fully understand Deng Ai's feelings when he led his army through the Yinping Trail.

"Survival or death depends on this one move."

At that time, Deng Ai was glad that Zhuge Liang was dead, and no one in Shu Kingdom paid attention to the Yinping Trail.

Now, Li Xiao is glad that there is no military strategist like Zhuge Liang among the Naimans.

"All the captains and squad leaders, take a headcount and set up camp."

Watching more and more soldiers coming out of the valley, Li Xiao stood aside on horseback and gave loud orders.

It took quite some time to get through the valley, and it was almost dark.

We're going to set up camp in the mountains tonight.

Not long after, Li Xiao chose a relatively flat hill to set up camp and ordered the soldiers not to make fire to cook.

Instead, they ate the mutton, dry food, etc. they brought with them, and were not allowed to make loud noises.

After the example of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys in front of the valley, these soldiers were obviously much more "sensible" and dared not to violate military orders blatantly.

Li Xiao showed no mercy when he took action.

The mountains were completely silent in the dark night, with only the occasional cries of birds and beasts, and the whirring of war horses to be heard.

After watching the soldiers set up the tents and start eating on the ground, Li Xiao also took out a piece of dried meat from his horse's back.

He wrapped his sheepskin coat tightly around himself and began to bite it bite by bite.

"Where are we going next?" Da Hu asked in a low voice beside him.

Li Xiao looked up at the position of the North Star and pointed in the opposite direction: "Go southwest."

Although they had crossed the most critical Alailing Pass, Jinshan was a huge mountain range, an endless stretch of mountains.

Li Xiao estimated that he would have to walk in the mountains for several more days!
In the next few days, Li Xiao killed several more soldiers to shock the morale of the troops.

But he could clearly feel that the atmosphere in the team had changed and became more depressing.

The soldiers spoke less and less, and everyone rode their horses silently, following the people in front of them.

They didn't know where to go and had even forgotten what they were supposed to do.

All I could see were endless mountains, one after another, as if there would never be an end.

This deadly atmosphere permeated the army and was almost enough to crush people.

Li Xiao knew that the soldiers were almost at their limit.

Even if someone just shouts loudly, the entire army may burst into a roar.

After all, they were just a ragtag army that Li Xiao had put together on the spur of the moment, and they were not the real elite who had gone through the iron-blooded trials.

On this day, when the sun's rays were blocked by the peaks of Jinshan Mountain, scouts suddenly came to report that a Naiman tribe had been discovered ahead.

Li Xiao immediately became alert and ordered the army to rest on the spot, while he took his men and scouts to check the situation.

This is a valley covered with flowers, green grass and low vegetation.

In the twilight, herds of cattle and sheep gathered together, driven by their owners' whips, and slowly walked towards home.

In the middle of the valley, there are tents scattered around. At a glance, there are hundreds of them, and they are far apart from each other.

Children were running on the grass, women were cooking dinner, and laughter was everywhere.

This was in stark contrast to Li Xiao and the others who had traveled across mountains and rivers, were covered in dust and had their clothes covered in mud.

Standing on the hillside, Li Xiao looked at this heartwarming scene, wiped his rough face covered with dandruff fiercely, and then slowly smiled.

He turned to look at Da Hu and the others who also looked tired, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Tonight, we can have a good rest."

The most important thing is that these 3,000 troops, which are almost reaching their limit, will not disperse.

(End of this chapter)