Seventeen Army God Li Mu

  [======????=====]????????????????????“Oh?” Feng Xinzi turned his head to listen carefully: “Finally caught up, it's really slow…” He pulled out the dagger that had pierced Tian Kaijiang's chest, and along with it came a still-beating heart. “It's truly sweet!” His long tongue licked and sucked.

  Tian Kaijiang watched as something that originally belonged to him fell into someone else's hands (mouth?), how could he close his eyes: "You... you..."

  "I knew it, you're going to call me a beast! How annoying, I already know that myself, thank you!" With a gentle smile, she gave him a light push and he fell to the ground. The last of the three heroes, Qi Bang, had no choice but to follow his old friend away.

  Crouching down, a light strike, Tian Kaijiang's skull shattered and his brain spilled out. Feng Xinzhi didn't care if it was too bloody, threw away the heart that was still beating slowly in his hand, and began to grope between red and white!

  "What is he doing? What is he looking for?" Jing Ke could no longer stand, and with great effort propped himself up to gaze at his movements. From Tian Kaijiang, to Gongsun Jie, then to Guyezi...

  "Time to call it a day!" Not knowing what was already in Feng Xunzi's hands, he glanced at Jing Ke and put away the thing in his hand. He walked over with a smile.

  "You listen..." Squatted beside Jing Ke, Feng Xinzi pointed to the edge of the elm forest and said: "Someone has come to find you, Jing Ke. I've been following you all along just to see this little show. You'd better put in some effort! Hehe." With a slap, Jing Ke was knocked to the ground.

  The sound of horseshoes grew more urgent, footsteps drew closer and closer.

  ……

  The war horse neighs, the battle flag flutters, the formation is neat and tidy, and the soldiers are brave. The comer, unexpectedly, was Li Mu, the great general of Zhao State.

  "Report to the General, only one person is alive!" A soldier in front reported: "It was the same person who slaughtered the Hu family village before! There are also three corpses, all of whom... died miserably just like the people of Hu family village!"

  "Huh?" Turning over and dismounting his horse, Li Mu walked towards the depths of the elm forest. "General, it's right there!"

  What? The forest was almost completely destroyed, with more trees cut off at the waist; those deep pits, what kind of power did that? The most frightening thing is those three corpses, which can be said to have bodies without heads, gruesome and unbearable, who used what sharp weapon to do this?

  "Great General, it's him. The murderer we saw at the Hu Family Manor is this man." The little leader from before pointed at the unconscious Jing Ke and reported: "His name is Jing Ke, originally a citizen of Qi State, who had an engagement with Hu Ruo Shui, the daughter of the master of Hu Family Manor. However, after Jing Ke went mad, the engagement was cancelled. In anger and shame, he killed 7 people in the Hu Family Manor!"

  Stroking his mustache, Li Mu didn't speak, he was thinking: a person killed 7 people, fell into the deep pit of trees, the tragic state of the corpses...... Could it be......

  "General, this is a weapon left beside the corpse, take a look!"

  "Blood... Blood Blade! No, it can't be..." It was as if he was talking to himself, or rather, denying himself, for in his mind, that terrifying scene replayed once more.

  ……

  Li Mu, a general of Zhao Wuling Wang's later period. He spent the first part of his life on the northern border of Zhao State, fighting against the Xiongnu; and the second part in the court, participating in political and military activities, mainly to resist the strong Qin. He twice defeated the Qin army. However, at the beginning of his military career, he was also known as the "timid general" and "non-fighting general".

  At that time, as the military strength of various Xiongnu tribes gradually increased, they continued to harass the northern border of Zhao State. King Huiwen of Zhao then sent Li Mu to lead troops to defend the north alone.

  After taking office, Li Mu had a close relationship with his officers and men, treating them generously. Every day, he would kill several cows to reward them, allowing them to practice horseback riding and archery tactics. The whole army was in high spirits due to the generous treatment, and everyone was eager to fight bravely for the country. At the same time, he improved the beacon towers along the border defense line, dispatching elite soldiers to guard them strictly, increasing intelligence scouts, perfecting the intelligence network, and ensuring that they could provide early warnings when encountering enemies. Everyone thought that the Zhao army would win a great victory in the battle against the Xiongnu.

  But the result was far from it. Every time the Xiongnu came to raid, he changed his previous approach of ordering troops to go out and fight as soon as the Xiongnu invaded. He ordered a strong defense, and whenever the Xiongnu invaded the border, the beacon towers reported an alarm, and he ordered the soldiers to immediately gather their belongings and retreat into the fortress to defend themselves, never going out to battle, making it impossible for the Xiongnu to plunder.

  Years passed, still the same, so that soldiers were exhausted and civilians were frightened. Although there was no loss, the Xiongnu remained like a sharp sword hanging over their heads. The nickname "General of Fear" and "General of No Battle" came from this. The Xiongnu people even spread it as the biggest joke: General Li Mu of Zhao is timid like a mouse...

  But everything changed when his daughter Li Xiaoguo arrived at the military camp.

  Li Xiaoguo, although a woman, had the ambition of a man. From childhood she practiced martial arts and was well-versed in the strange gates of escape and the eight trigrams formation. When she arrived at the military camp, she advocated for a decisive battle. She pointed out that over the years, the Xiongnu had repeatedly invaded but gained nothing, thinking that Li Mu was timid and avoiding battle. The border generals and soldiers were rewarded every day, but had no opportunity to exert themselves, hoping to make a contribution on the battlefield. Now they could set up an ambush, lure the enemy deep in, and defeat the Xiongnu in one fell swoop.

  After analyzing the current situation, Li Mu agreed. After strict selection, 300 chariots were selected, and 3,000 fine war horses, 50,000 brave and good warriors, and 10,000 excellent archers were selected. Then, the selected vehicles, horses, and soldiers were strictly organized into a formation to conduct multi-branch joint combat drills.

  In the spring of 244 BC, after everything was ready, Li Xiagu let the people go to pasture cattle all over the mountains and plains, luring the Xiongnu to invade.

  Before long, scouts reported that a small group of Xiongnu had arrived not far from the border. Li Mu sent out a small detachment to do battle, but they were defeated by the Xiongnu troops and abandoned several thousand civilians and livestock as bait for the Xiongnu to capture.

  The Xiongnu Chanyu was delighted to hear the news from the front, and since there had been no spoils for a long time, he led his army into Zhao territory, preparing to plunder extensively.

  Li Mu was familiar with the enemy's situation from the beacon tower alarm and intelligence reports, while Li Xiao Guo had laid an ambush on the Xiongnu's path. When the main force of the Xiongnu arrived, to consume the enemy army, they first adopted a defensive strategy in coordination with each other. The war chariots arrayed themselves at the front to restrict, block and slow down the enemy cavalry, while the infantry groups in the middle blocked the enemy, and the bowmen took turns shooting from a distance. Meanwhile, the cavalry and elite infantry were controlled on the sides of the army formation. When the Xiongnu army was repelled, Li Xiao Guo took advantage of the situation to join forces with the mobile elite troops under his control from both wings, launching a pincer attack, surrounding the Xiongnu army on the battlefield. The well-trained Zhao soldiers had been waiting for this moment, and they charged forward like living dragons. The 13,000 cavalrymen on both wings were like two sharp blades, easily tearing open the Xiongnu's seemingly invincible formation, and in an instant, they strangled the fate of the 100,000 Xiongnu cavalrymen. The battle quickly turned into a massacre of the Xiongnu. The entire army of 100,000 Xiongnu cavalrymen was annihilated, and the Xiongnu Chanyu escaped with only a small number of followers.

  After the great defeat of the Xiongnu, they took advantage of their victory to clean up the Xiongnu vassal states in northern Zhao, destroy the Donghu, capture the Linhu, and force the Chanyu to flee to the distant north, completely eliminating the troubles in the north. After this glorious victory, the Xiongnu troops were intimidated by the might of the Zhao army and did not dare to invade the borders of Zhao for over a decade.

  Also, people attributed the merits to Li Mu and revered him as the "God of War" of Zhao State. Later generations even called him, along with Bai Qi and Wang Jian of Qin State and Lian Po of Zhao State, one of the "Four Famous Generals of the Warring States".

  But this is not all of history, or rather, history has only written a part of it so far.

  But in that battle, Li Mu hid the most crucial one...

  But that one war was a nightmare!