OBS Chapter 268: Fake Road Sign Reference
Chapter 268: Fake Road Sign Reference
After daybreak, Liu Chao did not let his brothers follow him. He held a bow and quietly went around to the front, approaching the vanguard of the Song army.
Liu Chao wisely did not choose to shoot Li Mo, the golden eagle's archer. Thinking that the Song army had not taken the wrong path in this primeval forest, he knew that the Song army must have found a local guide who was familiar with the terrain of this primeval forest.
Therefore, his goal today was to shoot and kill the traitor from Shu who betrayed his compatriots.
As expected, the two figures walking in front were very familiar. The two guides who were chatting and laughing with the Song army were from Liu Chao's village. One was called Liu Ertie and the other was called Chen Zhong. In the past, they were also two hunters who made a living from this primeval forest.
One of the brothers who died last night was Chen Zhong's nephew. Liu Chao's eyes were filled with anger, but when he drew the arrow and put it on the bowstring, his emotions calmed down and his hand pulled the bowstring steadily.
"Swoosh!...Swoosh!" Two black arrows, with sharp airflow sounds and murderous aura, flew towards Liu Ertie and Chen Zhong one after the other.
"Puff!...Puff!" After two sounds of arrows entering the flesh, Liu Ertie fell backwards without even having time to scream.
Chen Zhong reacted quickly and screamed "Ah!", but it was too late to dodge. He grabbed the tail of the arrow that had shot into his throat with his hand, and fell straight down with fear in his eyes.
"The guide is dead, go and report to the general!..." The more than one hundred soldiers who were accompanying and guarding the guide finally reacted and screamed in chaos, but no one dared to chase the sneak attacking enemy into the deep forest in the left front.
After receiving the report, Li Mo was so angry that he whipped the scout captain in the face with a horsewhip!
"One hundred and twenty people can't protect two guides, I'll just beat you to death!" Another horsewhip hit the scout captain's face hard, leaving two cross-shaped blood marks, just like the cross on the groom's chest, except without the festive feeling.
The scout captain endured the severe pain and did not dare to dodge, and took two blows of the whip from General Li in anger.
"I admit my guilt, General. Please continue to whip me." As long as I get a few more whips, I can keep my head.
Li Mo was secretly regretting again. He had taken great pains to hire two guides at a high price. Why didn't he let one lead the way in front and the other stay in the center to provide protection?
What a carelessness!
But it was too late to regret. Fortunately, there were still two days left. The guide had already described in detail the general direction and the conspicuous target reference points at each intersection, so we should be able to take the right path.
: "Go! Follow the directions and reference points given by the guide to clear the way!"
The scout captain felt as if he had been pardoned. He quickly got up, took the order, turned around and ran to lead the way.
After turning into a roadside reference point with two trees embracing each other, they walked for another hour before a stream came into view. Li Mo felt relieved. The road the scouts had taken was correct, and it was the same as the reference point described by the guide.
The army marched smoothly for a day. At night, the enemy archers who were going to launch a sneak attack did not come. Perhaps they were frightened by the general's arrows.
They continued their march on the second day and saw a tiger head carved on a huge rock a meter high. The arrow crossing the tiger head pointed to the intersection on the right. Li Mo nodded again, knowing that they had taken the right road and the reference object was correct.
Two hours later, the river that should have appeared in front of them turned into a stone wall in front of them. The scouts were pointing and talking under the thirty-foot-high stone wall, scratching their heads in confusion. They didn't know whether to turn left or go back the same way.
The large force that was only a thousand steps away from the scouts caught up, and more and more soldiers dismounted and gathered under the stone wall.
One after another, figures stood up from the stone wall, and dense bows and arrows were aimed at the Song army huddled together below.
"We've been ambushed! Run!..." The sharp-eyed Song army soldier shouted in fear and turned around to run back, but behind him were dense groups of companions and Song army soldiers who kept pouring out from the narrow road.
Arrows rained down like flying birds, and the Song soldiers crowded under the stone wall were like a densely packed living target. Even a blind man standing on the stone wall could hit the target every time.
Above the stone wall, three rows of archers took turns shooting their arrows, and below the stone wall, there were screams and curses like ghosts and wolves howling. The Song army, scrambling to escape, pushed each other, cursed, and trampled on each other as they rushed back. After leaving the range of the enemy's arrows on the stone wall, corpses fell one on top of another on the dry grass below the stone wall, which was not very spacious.
Li Mo kept shouting and cursing, and was surrounded by the soldiers who turned back and ran away for a mile. After beheading more than a dozen people, he finally stabilized the army's position.
They took the wrong road and were ambushed by the enemy. Li Mo knew he had been tricked. He had no choice but to order the rear troops to become the front troops and retreat back to the iconic reference point.
Arriving at the ten-foot-high boulder, Li Mo dismounted and took a closer look. He saw that the tiger head and the arrow were newly carved, and he almost vomited blood!
: "I am so angry! This cunning and sinister gang of thieves and rebels actually made a fake road sign reference!"
In this ambush, the Song army lost more than 2,000 people and their morale was extremely low. If they had not had to stick together in this uninhabited primeval forest full of dangers, I am afraid that many soldiers would have fled out of fear of fighting.
After finally finding the real road sign reference and confirming it again and again, the Song army, which still had about 13,000 men left, set out on a journey with an uncertain future in a dejected mood.
However, Liu Chao would never let them get out of this primeval forest so easily, so he brought 3,000 soldiers with him and destroyed and modified the road signs, making Li Mo run around in circles.
After being led around by the cunning and insidious enemy for two days and being ambushed and losing more than 3,000 people, they finally walked out of this primeval forest.
Li Mo counted the men and horses and found that there were more than 15,000 horses left, but there were only more than 9,000 soldiers on horseback.
A wave of sadness and heavy emotions surged in my heart. Could I still regret retreating? The enemy troops deep in the dense forest were still waiting on the way back. If I walked back one more round, these nine thousand people would be eaten up by them.
Li Moxin gritted his teeth and shouted to the soldiers with crooked helmets and armor and low spirits: "Fellow soldiers! We have no way to retreat. We can only move forward desperately. The terrain ahead is flat. As long as we take down Jiangyou Pass in front, we can go straight to Chengdu Prefecture.
The rebels have few soldiers and their combat effectiveness is not strong. They will certainly be vulnerable to the iron hooves and steel knives of our 10,000 elite light-armored cavalry.
Please cheer up, all the soldiers, work together, follow this general to seize Jiangyou Pass and attack Chengdu Prefecture! "
"Capture Jiangyou Pass!..."
"Go straight to Chengdu!"
There were sporadic shouts of arms waving and cheering, but they didn't sound like the majestic momentum of an army swearing in arms.
Li Mo sighed in his heart. More than half of the 20,000 elite troops in the army were ambushed and killed before they even had a chance to fight the enemy. How could the morale of the remaining soldiers be so high!
It is impossible to retreat, so we can only risk our lives and move forward bravely!
Along the way, we saw several villages that showed no signs of being harmed by the rebels. Farmers and farm women were working in the fields, busy with spring ploughing. A small market we passed by was filled with mountain products, grain and other trading items on the roadside. The people who were bargaining for goods were frightened by the sight of this miserable-looking army and fled in panic with screams.
Li Mo looked at the goods on the roadside stalls that were trampled under the iron hooves of the army and were in a mess, and couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.
Sichuan is known as the Land of Abundance, with fertile land and abundant products. No wonder the people who have lived here for generations have no good feelings towards the court officials and the army, because the officials and the army entered Sichuan to collect grain and taxes or to suppress bandits and rebellions. If they were not squeezed to death by the overly greedy rulers of Sichuan, they would not welcome foreign officials and soldiers.
The army finally arrived at Jiangyou Pass without any hindrance. Li Mo looked up at the Jiangyou Pass city wall, which was not very steep or solid, and the not many defenders on the wall. Hope and pride rose in his heart again!
"Take down Jiangyou Pass and go straight to Chengdu Prefecture! I, Li Mo, can also be as famous as Deng Ai throughout the ages." Li Mo muttered in his heart with burning eyes.