Chapter 44: White Wolf Mountain Water Interval (11)

  The Khitan chose the right time to attack, catching Li Chengzhong off guard. In the first two days after entering the White Wolf Mountain, Li Chengzhong was still quite vigilant, and he specially set up sentry posts at the mountain pass, paying close attention to the movements of the Khitans. However, since the Khitans had not made any moves, he became somewhat slack, and with many things to worry about in recent days, he did not put too much effort into improving the defensive facilities of the military camp.

  In the few days of waiting for Feng Dao to bring back the exact news of whether to leave or stay, he put more energy into investigating the terrain of Bai Luoshan and communicating with the refugees who entered the mountain. When he had spare time, he also used it to think about how to train these soldiers...

  The current White Wolf Mountain military camp's defensive facilities are extremely simple, and can be described as almost non-existent. Apart from the stone wall stuck between the two mountain walls, only a few stone houses remain on the small hilltops on both sides. The stone wall is very narrow, and it is not possible for people to stand on top of it. Along the inner side of the stone wall, there are some remaining stone holes that were used to build a plank road. Judging from the distribution of these stone holes, the inner side of the stone wall should have had a wooden plank road and several arrow towers that could accommodate people, making it convenient for soldiers to guard against the stone wall. However, the original wooden plank road and arrow towers have long since disappeared, leaving only a few rotten wooden boards piled up in the corner of the wall root. In other words, this stone wall is now just a stone wall, and it's only about one zhang high, with an opening of nearly two zhang wide on the east side, which was originally the location of the military camp gate. At this point, it is very similar to when Li Chengzhong was ordered to guard Yu Guan!

  If only he had known this would happen today, he should have devoted himself to repairing the city walls and defensive facilities. Even if it was a bit early, it would be better than now! Li Chengzhong was so remorseful that he wanted to die at this moment.

  The only advantage of the military camp was a few stone houses on the mountain walls on both sides. Compared to the fortress on one side of Yu Guan Pass, these stone houses were more conducive to defense. The location of these stone houses was much higher than the Yu Guan Fortress, and Li Chengzhong had tested it with several archers at the time. If arrows were shot from below to the top of the mountain wall, the arrows would be soft and powerless, with almost no killing effect. On the other hand, if arrows were shot downwards, there would be no impact at all. Because the terrain here was narrower than Yu Guan Pass, the archers on both sides of the mountain wall could shoot more accurately at their targets. This was also the only highlight of the entire military camp's defense.

  "How many people have come?" Li Chengzhong suppressed the slight panic in his heart and asked Wang Dalang calmly, slowing down his speech on purpose to enhance this calm effect. Upon hearing the news, Jiang Miao, Zhang Xingchong, Zhou KanDao and other main military officers and several partners had already gathered around, as the backbone of the army, Li Chengzhong still deeply understood this simple truth: if he showed even a hint of panic, it would greatly affect the morale of the entire team.

  Wang Dalang licked his somewhat dry lips and said gruffly: "A lot have come, probably not less than a thousand people..."

  "Have you entered the mountain? Where have you walked to?" Li Chengzhong asked.

  Wang Dalang shook his head: "Not yet, they stopped at the mountain pass. The big bearded Khitan and the young whippersnapper from last time are both there... I didn't dare to linger so I hurried back... I left two brothers at the mountain pass, if there's any further situation, they'll rush back to report."

  At this time, all the officers above the company level surrounded Li Chengzhong's side, and many clever soldiers held their knives and guns tightly, looking at him from all sides. Many civilians also felt something was wrong, although they didn't dare to come closer, but they all silently stared at this crowded small circle. The whole military camp suddenly became quiet, the atmosphere was particularly tense.

  What to do? Looking at the brothers waiting for his orders, looking at the soldiers and civilians staring at him, a pair of eyes gathered together, with expectation, excitement, more tension, anxiety and confusion. Li Chengzhong felt the pressure of a mountain on his first day as the head of the household, this pressure was heavy, almost suffocating him.

  Are you going to defend the fort to the death? Looking at that extremely simple stone wall, Li Cheng felt a chill in his heart. According to Wang Dalang's words, there were less than 1,000 Khitan people coming, and they had only more than 270 soldiers with complete armor and weapons, and actually less than 200 people could go into battle. Even if the young and strong refugees were added, it would not exceed 500 people, let alone whether those people would cause trouble in the battle, which was hard to say.

  Is it the "strategic shift" of the people? By constantly stirring up a large-scale movement in the White Wolf Mountain, the Khitan people will reveal their weaknesses in motion and then find their weak points to divide and destroy them. This brilliant tactical idea put forward by the great leader before the crossing appeared in Li Cheng's mind at the first moment.

  Li Chengzhong remembered that when he was serving in the army, the instructor analyzed and summarized the reasons why the Red Army won a brilliant victory in the first to fourth counter-encirclement campaigns during the supplementary class of the Communist Party's activist training class. To implement this advanced tactical concept, three conditions are needed: one is to have a strategic depth base, one is to have a team with firm will and good fighting skills, and one is to have the courage to break through the family's bottom line.

  Li Chengzhong compared himself with the current conditions in front of him and was disappointed to find that he didn't meet any of them.

  Bai Lang Mountain sounds quite large, but compared to the Red Base Area back then, it's actually a bit too small. Not to mention that the entire Bai Lang Mountain area is only about 20 miles east-west and less than five miles north-south, just the Xuan Water River that separates the East Mountain and West Mountain in the middle is not something that can be easily crossed. Therefore, the actual depth that Li Chengzhong can play with is only half of it. It's even more difficult to carry out such a deep penetration within such a small range, let alone bringing so many civilians along.

  As for the troops, more than half of the soldiers under his command had been trained by him from scratch. He believed that these soldiers' running ability was definitely stronger than those Khitan people who grew up on horseback since childhood. Those Khitans were so used to riding horses that they became bow-legged. If they got off their horses and fought, it would be okay, but when it came to long-distance endurance running, they were definitely not as good as his soldiers. However, this strength was limited, after all, Li Chengzhong's training of their running ability was very basic and the time was very short. To truly complete the continuous luring of the enemy, sudden east and west entanglement, swift and fierce penetration, and brave and unparalleled charge... his soldiers were still far from achieving this. Li Chengzhong estimated that if they ran around in the mountains for a day, these soldiers would likely exhaust themselves, let alone fight. He even suspected that given their nutritional conditions, many of them might run until they urinated blood.

  Finally, Li Chengzhong thought of the grain and supplies that had just been stored in the cave, and the fields on the back mountain that had just sprouted green shoots. He couldn't help but sigh. He really didn't have the courage and determination to break through the family's foundation, these things were the basis for Li Chengzhong's future development, and also the hope for the survival of nearly a thousand people under him. If he let the Khitan people plunder these supplies and destroy those fields, he dared not imagine what would happen next. Breaking the jars and pots sounded simple, as long as one had the courage and determination to overcome all difficulties, but Li Chengzhong thought to himself, this kind of courage and determination, he really didn't have.

  Everything was thought out in a flash, Li Chengzhong hesitated for a moment and knew how to choose. He had no choice but to painfully admit that so far, he only had one choice, the most stupid and most reasonable choice, which was to die here. After thinking everything through, Li Chengzhong began to issue orders, this was his first command since he really took charge.

  Li Chengzhong had never been in contact with power before crossing over, and after crossing over, he didn't have much power until he went to Yu Guan. Even when he played the role of "number one" at Yu Guan, it was just following Zhou Zhiyu's requirements and issuing orders within Zhou Zhiyu's command framework. It wasn't until he became the de facto leader of the White Wolf Mountain military camp that he realized being a leader wasn't easy. Especially in wartime conditions, every order issued affected the lives and deaths of all soldiers and civilians in White Wolf Mountain. He finally understood why those big shots spoke so carefully and slowly when giving speeches or issuing orders. Li Chengzhong also spoke slowly and carefully when issuing orders, giving people a feeling of heaviness, really heavy! Every sentence weighed on the lives and deaths of thousands of people, how could it not be heavy?

  "Jiang Dutou, from now on, you supervise the laborers to dig trenches. The trenches are dug inside the stone wall, one person high and one zhang wide. Except for the gap at the top of the stone wall that does not need to be dug, all sections of the inner side of the stone wall must be dug out..."

  "Meng, Jiao, you two lead the archery team to immediately mark out the area outside the stone wall. Divide the ground outside the stone wall into six to nine regions. After marking is complete, each of you will lead a team of archers to climb up onto the mountain walls on either side and station yourselves in the stone houses at the top. Then, shoot downwards, with specific requirements the same as those at Yu Guan..."

  "Zhang, you're in charge of all the riflemen. Organize them into squads according to their original formations. Divide the troops into two parts: half will be on standby and half will be deployed at the front line. The deployment at the gap in the stone wall is crucial, so prioritize the allocation of forces there..."

  "Zhou Du Tou, assemble all the knife shield soldiers, also prepare in teams of five as one team, the battle method is the same as that of Yu Guan..."

  "Zhao, lead your squad to cook immediately. I want everyone to have a full meal before the battle starts... Don't be stingy with those dried meats, bring them out... Your brothers in the squad must also keep their blades by their side at all times, and be ready to fight to the death when the critical moment arrives!"

  "Feng Sishi, the people are counting on you. You must move them to the back mountain, and try to bring as much food as possible. If things don't go well here, leave from the small path in the back mountain and find a way to return to Yu Guan..."

  At this critical moment, Li Chengzhong's mind suddenly became exceptionally clear. His orders were issued one by one, taking all aspects into consideration. In his commands, he unconsciously used official titles to address the crowd, causing them to feel a sense of solemnity as they received their orders.

  Jiang Miao asked hesitantly after receiving the order: "Li Lang... Da Tou... when repairing the trench, shouldn't we also block the opening?"

  Li Chengzhong nodded: "Although the breach is the biggest breakthrough for the Khitan people, it is also our only counterattack route. If this path is really blocked, we will not pose any threat to the Khitan people... At any time, active defense is always the first choice in defense."

  As the crowd dispersed, Li Chengzhong summoned Zhong Si-lang to his side and spoke in a very serious tone to this short man who had made military achievements on the city wall of Yu Guan: "Zhong, I need at least two hours to prepare...". He inserted a wooden stick into the ground: "Look, now the shadow is here... Before the shadow moves to this position, we cannot let the Khitan people reach the gate of the army camp... Lead your brothers to rush to the mountain pass quickly, and use any method to delay the Khitan people's pace in entering the mountain... Can you do it?"