Chapter 175: There is a big trouble

Mingyue Empire, within Bingzhou.

A team of fully armed light cavalry was moving forward in the heavy snow that was two feet thick. Far away, a stream of smoke from cooking fires rose from the village ahead. The cavalry officer led a wave. The more than a hundred cavalry bright moon light cavalry behind him instantly divided into two strands. More than fifty cavalry entered the village from the front, and more than fifty cavalry detoured the village, cut off the villagers' way out for escape into the mountains.

Hearing the rushing sound of horse hooves, the villagers who were cooking opened the closed doors and windows and looked out. They were not very nervous when they saw that the cavalry of the Empire came, but they all looked sad. Looking at this situation, I was afraid that the empire would collect grain from the people again. But God knows that now everyone's food is almost gone, so where is there food to collect?

In less than a moment, the team of bright moon cavalry rushed into the village like a wind and clouds.

An old man opened the wood door and wanted to go to the woodshed opposite the street to get a bundle of dry wood. As soon as he walked to the door, a rider, the Mingyue Light Rider rushed past him. A cold light flashed in front of him, and then he felt his whole body float gently, floating in the air, and then he found in horror that his body was still on the ground, but his head was gone, and only a big blood hole was large.

"Kill!" The head of the Mingyue officer slashed the old man's head with a knife and shouted in a grim voice, "No chicken or dog left!"

The Mingyue Light Cavalry, which poured in from behind the Mingyue Officer, howled like wild animals, and each with its red eyes opened, urging the horses to crash into the homes of villagers. No matter whether they are male or female, age or young, or people or animals, as long as they encounter someone who can breathe, they will be killed without mercy. After killing them all, they set off a big fire and burned the entire village to ashes.

In less than half an hour, the entire village, which was originally full of vitality, had already become ruins.

About two hours later, a large group of black troops suddenly appeared on the snow on the east side of the village. However, this time it was not the light cavalry of the Mingyue Empire, but the heavy infantry of the Guanghui Empire. However, these heavy infantry glided on the snow faster than the war horse marching with the two long wooden boards on their feet!

Meng Hu made a slight mistake at his feet and stopped on the snow.

Not far ahead, the fire in the village had not been completely extinguished. Thick black smoke enveloped the village and had not yet dissipated with the wind. A gentle sigh suddenly sounded behind him. Meng Hu turned around and saw Qi Diaozi standing behind him. His face was full of unbearable expressions.

"General." Qi Diaozi said sadly, "Is it too cruel for us to do this?"

"Yes." Meng Hu nodded and sighed, "It is indeed cruel to kill unarmed civilians, and it is also a shame for soldiers, but we have no choice. It is not easy to hide the whereabouts of a hundred thousand troops. After all, this is the border of the enemy country. If there is a slight mistake, it will be a disaster!"

The lacquer sculpture nodded gently.

"Old Qi." Meng Hu reached out and patted Qi Diaozi on the shoulder and sighed, "Although these villagers are just unarmed civilians, they are the people of the Mingyue Empire after all, and their hearts are towards the Mingyue Empire, so they are enemies, and their kindness to the enemy is cruelty to themselves! If we let these unarmed civilians go today, the price may be to sacrifice our equal number of soldiers!"

Qi Diaozi breathed a long sigh, and the gloomy look in his eyes finally disappeared, but instead he was a little determined, and said in a narrow voice: "The general is right. He is in the enemy's territory, and he is full of murderous intentions everywhere, and he often has the worries of the destruction of the entire army. We must not take the lives of the soldiers from the west to take risks."

"That's right, haha."

Meng Hu smiled slightly, and Jia Wudao rushed up panting, and took the opportunity to ask, "Old Jia, where are we now?"

Jia Wudao took out the map from his arms, spread it out on the snow, looked at the map for a moment, and then pointed to the map and said, "General, we have probably reached this position. From here, we can walk about two hundred miles forward to bypass the remnant of Heifeng Ridge, and then go south for four or five hundred miles to the sword gorge."

"Okay!" Meng Hu said fiercely, "At the current marching speed, you can reach the sword gorge in five days at most."

Qi Diaozi suddenly said: "General, Bei Zhi just thought of a problem. This surprise attack on Xijing may leak news."

"No way?" Jia Wudao said disapprovingly, "We are very careful all the way around. There are dozens of Mingyue Rangers sent out, and there are more scouts of Manqi, who are responsible for blocking the news. In addition, the Mingyue Guards along the way are simply lacking in defense, so there should be no leakage of the news."

Qi Diaozi said: "What I am talking about is Daojian Gorge."

"Blade Sword Gorge?" Meng Hu said in a deep voice, "Lao Qi, are you talking about..."

Qi Diaozi said: "Yes, even if our light cavalry can kill all the defeated soldiers of Daojian Gorge, it cannot guarantee that they will not transmit the news back to Xijing, especially Daojian Gorge is between Nucang Mountain and Jitian Mountains. If the Mingyue Empire Army built beacon towers on these two mountains, the news that our army went south through Daojian Gorge would soon spread throughout the Mingyue Empire!"

Meng Hu's heart suddenly cried, and his expression became solemn in an instant. After a while, he said in a deep voice: "If the sneak attack fails, then attack forcefully! Although Xijing is the imperial capital of the Mingyue Empire, we may not have no chance under the premise of insufficient defense force!"

Qi Diaozi said: "General, the meaning of humble duties should be to be safe."

"Seeking stability?" Meng Hu immediately understood what Qi Diaozi meant and asked in a narrow voice, "You mean to let Zhang Xingba lead the guards to cross the Jitian Mountains, first to pull out the possible beacon towers on the mountain, second to turn behind the sword and sword gorge to prevent Mingyue's defeated troops from fleeing back to Xijing for information."

Qi Diaozi said: "General Xingba and the soldiers of the Guard grew up in Qingniu Mountain since childhood. They are good at crossing mountains and ridges. This task can only be completed by them."

"Um." Meng Hu muttered, turned around and shouted to Zhang Xingba who was standing solemnly on the snow, "Xingba, come here."

Zhang Xingba heard the sound and walked forward a few steps, came to Meng Hu, clasped his fists and bowed, "General."

Meng Hu patted Zhang Xingba on the shoulder and said in a deep voice: "Xingba, the entire Guards gather!"

Zhang Xingba took the order. In less than a cup of tea, more than 4,000 soldiers of the Guard had already assembled on the snow. Meng Hu just gave a few simple words, and Zhang Xingba led the Guard to leave the large group of troops. In order to ensure that the Guard did not get lost, Meng Hu also asked Jia Wudao to act with the Guard.

Watching the guards disappear into the vast snowy field, Meng Hu suddenly said, "Old Qi, count the time, Qiu Yutang's small widow's army should almost reach outside the Hu Xiao Pass. Hehe, I don't know if Meng Yan's middle army has entered Hu Xiao Pass? How will the situation there develop?"

Qi Diaozi stroked the willow beards on his chin and said calmly: "Although the situation in Hu Xiao Pass is difficult to judge, but from common sense, the result should not be too unexpected. Whether Qiu Yutang wins in the end or Meng Yan wins, it is probably a miserable victory! Qiu Yutang's Mingyue army has a slight advantage in military strength, but Meng Yan's army wins in elite forces, but Situ Rui defends the pass and occupies a good geographical advantage. In general, both armies have a chance."

"This is just a reason for inference."

Meng Hu shook his head and said disapprovingly, "But we can't simply use common sense to infer that little widow Qiu Yutang. I always feel that this little widow still has a very powerful backhand."

"Oh?" Qi Diaozi said, "General thinks Qiu Yutang still has a backup plan?"

Meng Hu frowned and thought for a moment and said, "Lao Qi, do you still remember the Battle of Kawahara?"

"Hiss..." Qi Diaozi said in a lost voice, "Is the general saying that Yan Changkong, who fled from Kawahara without fighting?"

"Yan Changkong is not escaping, but abandoning the city premeditatedly!" Meng Hu shook his head and said in a narrow voice, "Old Qi, don't you think Yan Changkong's departure from Kawahara is suspicious? If I was not wrong, Yan Changkong's elite soldier should be hiding in a corner of Qingzhou, waiting to give Meng Yan a fatal blow!"

Qi Diaozi said in a voice: "But the main force of Situ Rui's Qingzhou Legion is now at Hu Xiao Pass. If Yan Changkong's army is dead, it will be a broken division. Can it pose a threat to Meng Yan's more than 300,000 elite army?"

"It's hard to say."

Meng Hu shook his head and said thoughtfully, "I always feel that there must be another conspiracy in this. Yan Changkong is not an optional chess piece. I have a intuition. If Meng Yan doesn't retreat and continues to attack Hu Xiao Pass, he will be in big trouble!"

Qi Diaozi frowned and pondered for a moment, saying, "I hope Meng Yan can hold on for a while, otherwise we will be in big trouble."

"Yes." Meng Hu nodded and sighed, "If Mengyan's middle army collapsed too early, Qiu Yutang would be able to free up all the troops to deal with our army. This would be extremely bad in the situation! But no matter how bad the situation was, Qiu Yutang would also rest and leave our Western Legion."

Qi Diaozi said in a voice: "Oh?"

"One word."

Meng Hu said in a grim voice, "Even if Qiu Yutang really set up a net of heaven and earth, this general will poke the things she has fiddled with! Meng Yan's middle army will let her pinch us, but she wants to eat the Tiger Legion. Hehe, it's not because of this general's boast that her little widow still lacks good teeth."

Qi Diaozi's eyes lit up when he heard this and said happily: "Have you already decided to retreat?"

A tacit smile appeared on Meng Hu's face and said, "Old Qi, you can't hide anything from your eyes. But it's just a preliminary idea for the time being. What we need to consider now is how to take down the sword gorge without knowing it and attack Xijing in one fell swoop! Give Qiu Yutang a ruthless widow and the Mingyue Empire!"
Chapter completed!