Chapter 48: White Wolf Mountain Water Interval (15)

  Listening to the mournful cries coming from inside the stone wall, Wu Li's first reaction was to urge Ke Dan to continue deploying troops to cross the stone wall. He felt that the battle situation inside the stone wall should be quite intense at this time and it was necessary to increase the deployment of troops to stand firm inside the stone wall.

  Khitan heard Wu's urging voice, but he didn't rush to give the order. He felt that something was not quite right. After suffering heavy losses in the first attack, he had gradually regained his composure and suppressed the evil fire in his heart, so he didn't make any rash moves. He listened carefully to the commotion inside the stone wall and suddenly realized where the problem lay. Most of these voices were from Khitan warriors, with no sound of Han soldiers from the Lulong Army!

  Kedan was unclear what happened inside the stone wall, but it was certain that the Khitan warriors who fell into the stone wall must have encountered some insurmountable difficulties. This situation was quite bizarre and made Kedan recall when they attacked Yu Guan, those Khitan warriors who climbed up to the city head.

  Under the stone wall, there were still twenty Khitans who had been waiting under the stone wall to send their companions who continued to arrive into the stone wall. They were closer to the stone wall and heard the cries for help from their companions inside the stone wall more clearly. A few clever ones climbed up the stone wall with the help of their companions, took a look inside, and were horrified by what they saw. They did not see the intense battlefield where both sides were fighting, but instead saw the soldiers of the Lulong Army lined up, continuously stabbing into the deep ditch with wooden guns. The scene was extremely bloody and unbearable to watch. These Khitans were so frightened that they didn't care whether they had received a withdrawal order or not, and they rolled and crawled back as fast as they could.

  Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao did not order the archers to continue covering fire, as the Khitan forces attacking the stone wall were too scattered, and covering fire would only waste arrows without achieving much effect. So they relied on their own archery skills and carried out point-to-point sniping. During the entire second attack by the Khitans, each of them shot five arrows, hitting a total of four people. This achievement was also considered very good, and the two men were indeed worthy of being wandering heroes from outside the pass, with excellent archery skills.

  Ke Dan did not punish the soldiers who retreated without orders. In the past, he would have only one way to deal with such behavior - kill. But at this time, he had no time to discipline the troops, and he was more concerned about what was happening inside the stone wall. The retreating soldiers told Ke Dan about the situation inside the stone wall one by one, and after listening, Ke Dan felt a headache and regret filled his words.

  In the unclear battlefield situation, he consecutively issued two wrong commands, causing more than 70 Khitan warriors to lose their lives easily. Khitan was deeply regretful in his heart and turned around to say to Wuli: "Young master, it's all Khitan's fault, please heavily punish me!"

  Wuli was also in great pain, and the loss under the city of Yuanguan was a heavy blow. Within a month, more than 100 Khitan warriors had been lost, which was one-fifth of the main force of the southern expedition. This loss was indeed too great for Wuli. However, Wuli thought that if he had commanded in person, the situation might have been even worse. At this time, Wuli had no one else to rely on, and his only hope was this loyal and devoted Kadan uncle.

  "Uncle Kedan, forget about the punishment. What should we do now?" Uli comforted Kedan with gentle words.

  Kedan is the most famous warrior of the Pin Department. He has experienced countless battles and killings, and in the battles with the Xianbei people, the Shiwei people, he always led the army to charge forward, using his knife and arrow to win victory after victory, making outstanding contributions to the expansion of the tribe. His name as a brave warrior even spread to the Khitan king's account by the Tuer River, and even the great man Shilu knew his name. In the few years of fighting on the grassland, he had captured countless strongholds, broken through countless enemy arrays, each time fighting with relish, fighting with extreme pleasure.

  "If you have the ability, come out and fight openly! Hiding behind trenches is not heroic!" Ke Dan gritted his teeth, staring at the tall officer on the high platform inside the military camp, his heart seething with rage. He silently cursed a few times, but Ke Dan was forced to return to reality, realizing that being angry wouldn't solve the problem. The Luolong army in front of him was different from all the enemies he had encountered before, and he had to come up with a plan.

  Ke Dan forced himself to calm down and reassess the battlefield situation. From what he had seen earlier, the archers on both sides of the cliff were a major threat, but their marksmanship was not good, and only two people's archery skills needed to be taken seriously. However, the problem now was that if they concentrated their forces to attack the pass head-on, they would inevitably suffer from the covering fire of the archers above, resulting in relatively heavy losses. But if they dispersed their forces along the entire front line, they would have to face that stone wall, which was not scary in itself, but the key was the deep ditch behind the stone wall...

  After careful consideration in the deep ditch and the breach, Kedan finally chose to break through at the breach. At least there, he could engage with the enemy face-to-face, even if it meant risking being injured by arrows. As long as they were entangled with the enemy, the arrows from above would lose their threat, and once entangled, Kedan believed that no one could stop his advance.

  Kadan will return the command to Wuri, because this time he will lead the charge himself. He told Wuri that when he is fighting with the enemy inside the fort, Wuri should order the second team of people to be dispatched, not too many in number, about twenty people as a team, quickly passing through the empty space in front of the military camp, and try to minimize casualties under the arrow rain. He also told Wuri that he must carefully observe the progress of the battle at the fort entrance, he will try his best to open up a space inside the fort, what Wuri needs to do is to continuously pour Khitan warriors into his back, providing him with endless support.

  Khitan personally selected twenty people, half of whom were warriors he had trained with his own hands. As the first wave of attack, their mission was extremely heavy and they had to fight their way through the gun array in the open space. He knew that more than half of these men might die in the gunfire, but Khitan had never been afraid of such a fierce battle. He believed that his warriors would not be afraid either. All he asked for was an opportunity for a face-to-face duel. As long as they could fight openly and fairly, there was no formation that the Khitan warriors could not break through! The Xi people couldn't do it, the Mohe people couldn't do it, the Shiwei people couldn't do it, and these Han people in front of them couldn't do it either!

  As Kadan led the charge into the range of Lulong's archers, the expected first wave of arrows came down, but because he was charging so fast, the arrows were left behind him by the time they arrived, with only one at the very back being shot down. By the time the second wave of arrows came down again, Kadan had already led the charge to the edge of the stone wall opening. He didn't have the luxury of worrying about how many of his warriors were falling behind in the hail of arrows; by this point, even if he was the only one left, he would still be charging forward with all his might.

  Ke Dan took advantage of his sprinting speed and rolled into the gap, catching the Lu Long army gunners off guard. Most of the wooden guns stabbed at empty air above him, while one gun grazed past his ear. Ke Dan grabbed a wooden gun and pulled it towards him, using the counterforce to prop himself up. With his right hand holding a knife, he slashed in all directions, deflecting several incoming wooden guns. Without hesitation, he charged into the nearby gun formation, knocking down two Lu Long army gunners.

  The soldiers armed with long-handled wooden guns were most afraid of close combat, but after Kadan rushed into the gun array, he immediately caused a brief chaos in the gun array. Taking advantage of the temporary chaos created by Kadan, more than a dozen Khitan people who followed closely behind him also charged in. Although five or six were knocked down, the rest all entangled with the Lulong army's gun soldiers face to face. These Khitan warriors were the cream of the crop of the entire tribe's military strength, and as soon as they entered the battle group, they immediately showed their superior combat experience and fighting skills, and in an instant, they killed out a space that could be continuously filled with follow-up forces.

  Wuli watched from behind and saw that Kedan led his men to charge into the opening, so he hastily dispatched the second team of Khitan soldiers to rush over the covering arrows at the fastest speed and join the battle. With the addition of the Living Army, Kedan's killing became even more ferocious. His strength was extremely great, and with one grab, he could pull a wooden spear out of the hands of a Lulong army soldier and fling him to the ground with a kick. His knife moves were also very strange, slanting from top to bottom or from bottom to top, often avoiding the wooden spear's blocking grid, adding a deep blood mark on the body of the Lulong army, simple yet extremely effective.

  In this brief moment, the Lulong Army soldiers who fell under Khitan's sword had already reached seven! Under Khitan's leadership, the Khitan soldiers who charged forward behind him also went crazy, slashing their knives in all directions, regardless of the wooden spears that were thrust at them. Some of the Khitan soldiers who were stabbed grabbed the spearheads that had pierced their bodies and refused to let go, so the Lulong Army soldiers' wooden spears were grasped in the Khitan people's arms and couldn't be pulled out. They were then knocked to the ground by other Khitan soldiers who followed closely behind.

  The bravery of the Khitan people stunned the Lulong army's gunners, and the gun formation immediately became chaotic. Many people began to involuntarily retreat, and the gun formation was on the verge of collapse.

  Zhang Xingzhong was the frontline commander in charge of the gunners. The situation at the Hu Kou pass was extremely precarious, and he too felt a great sense of urgency. As he loudly shouted "Don't retreat half a step", he gathered together four squads of gunners waiting by the trenches. In the chaos, these poorly trained gunners were unable to form a proper formation, and Zhang Xingzhong didn't have time to reorganize them before leading them in a charge.

  The retreat of the gunners at the opening created a larger gap, and the Khitan soldiers rushed into the opening under Wuli's dispatch. The inside of the stone wall was crowded with Khitan soldiers, who were entangled with the Lulong army in a melee. When the number of Khitan soldiers rushing into the opening reached one hundred, both sides were tightly squeezed together, and the wooden spears of the Lulong army could not be thrust forward, nor could the knives of the Khitan people be cut out.

  The Khitan army was surrounded on the inside, while the Lulong army was squeezed on the outside. The Khitan army desperately pushed forward, while the Lulong army stubbornly held its ground and refused to retreat.

  The performance of the Lulong Army soldiers has far exceeded Li Chengzhong's expectations. When the Khitan big beard who was commanding the attack on Yuguang City burst into the gap and knocked down several Lulong Army soldiers, Li Chengzhong's heart tightened. He was most afraid that the Khitans would rush to his face and engage in a fierce battle, and he feared that his new recruits would completely collapse under the Khitan's brutal attacks. However, the development of the situation exceeded his imagination. Despite suffering heavy casualties, these gunners did not immediately collapse, but instead desperately blocked the Khitans who were rushing into the gap under Zhang Xingzhong's command.

  Li Chengzhong didn't dare to delay, and hastily ordered Zhou KanDao to lead the knife shield team to come forward and assist. Zhou KanDao had been holding back for a long time, and upon receiving the order, he immediately led his men in a charge.

  At this moment, there was no room for the two armies to swing their weapons. Zhou Kan, with a bitter smile, could only command the knife and shield squad to use their shields to hold back the Lu Long army's gun-wielding soldiers in front of them, exerting all their strength to push forward.

  The situation on the battlefield in front of him made Li Chengzhong speechless, both sides were exerting their strength at the critical point, just like... "topping the cow"?