The Book of Troubled Times

Chapter 779 The logic of war in the world of gods

 Although on the whole, Zhao Changhe can be regarded as her Ye Wuming pawn.

But regarding this matter alone, she, Ye Wuming, was actually one of Zhao Changhe's chess pieces. Taking advantage of her opposition to Jiuyou, she played the chess piece willingly and with great care.

Every time the blind man thought about this, he felt an indescribable strange feeling. It seemed that he could see a man striding towards her in the wind, frost, snow and rain, trying to pull her down from the high clouds and pin her down on his throne. Down.

 Xia Longyuan and the others failed to do it, but he is doing it.

However, even though he knew that there were even more sinister parts of his thoughts, the blind man still wanted to make this move, and looked at his performance with great expectation, hoping that he would not fall behind.

This feeling is really weird.

On Zhao Changhe's side, the decisive battle is actually about to begin. This is indeed not a war that drags on for a long time. Although the scale is burning all over the world, no matter the victory or defeat, no matter which side the war is on, it will end quickly.

 experience

Zhao Changhe didn't dare to use his overlooking eye to sense things remotely, and Timur Bo'e and others over there also didn't dare to expand their consciousness randomly. Now no one is quite sure about the other party's specific movements. But it gave Zhao Changhe more advantages. The eagle master sent by Sisi could already see the shadows of mountains in the distance, and a corner of the holy mountain on the grassland had been revealed.

On the other hand, the eagles on Timur's side were almost all roasted.

 Including the Immortal God... With his level of cultivation that surpasses everyone else, he can completely see Zhao Changhe's side, but Zhao Changhe cannot see his situation. But Zhao Changhe, Zhuque Yue Hongling, never felt the feeling of being spied on, which meant that even the Immortal God had no spiritual sense to spy on them.

According to the information conveyed by Sanniang through the secret method of the Four Symbols Sect, the Immortal God is just using a weaker soul to contain her. Judging from this, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the injury of the Immortal God has not recovered yet. Worried about repeating the mistakes of the overseas war, they did not dare to randomly come to a position where there was a group of Yujing on their way.

 That's right. This is the reason why everyone has to rush to the Northern Expedition.

Theoretically, Timur is blind at this moment and cannot grasp the movements of our army at all.

"However, this is misleading." Huangfu Qing had already made this conclusion to Zhao Changhe when they were galloping on the grassland a few days ago: "The collision between Timur and you that day was an intentional misleading."

"This is their home field. Even all the grassland ministries have been evacuated, and the water sources are all polluted. It is impossible for them to have no arrangements here. According to the attributes of the Immortal God, he should be the God of Nature, and is similar to our Five Elements. Every element we are looking for Every water source and even every blade of grass may be the eyes and ears of the Immortal God, which means they are always aware of our situation."

Huangfu's situation in these days has increasingly reflected the coach's ability and judgment. Zhao Changhe agrees with her statement.

 According to Timur's seven-injury punch method, it is also very uncomfortable for their army. After marching for so long, except for the two Monan tribes that we defeated at the beginning, everything was so vast that we couldn't even see shit. It was so depressing that people were going crazy.

Xue Canghai was almost exhausted these days. He originally thought that going out to the fortress would be a fierce battle, but it turned out that he was just here for a shopping trip. I admire the vast sky and vast fields every day. It’s quite beautiful at first, but after more than ten days of continuous viewing, I feel like I’m going to explode.

 It's just a shopping trip, the key is that there is no food or water to drink.

There is obviously a storage box, but ordinary soldiers don't know it. A few high-ranking generals knew about it, but the commander-in-chief strictly ordered not to use it or even mention it.

So everyone was using the dry food and water bags they had brought with them when they set out, as well as the food they had plundered from the first few Monan tribes that had been wiped out. Today, there is nothing to eat. An army of tens of thousands lives off the wild red deer and wolves they occasionally encounter on the grasslands. Is this a human life?

Especially water, it is not that there is no need to drink at all, all water sources are polluted, but this is spring, and there is rainfall on the grassland from time to time. It’s such a tragedy that everyone has to rely on rainwater to survive... In the past, marching hated rain, but now they actually look forward to it.

After more than ten days, the morale of this army was incomparable to when it first left the fortress. Everyone looked wilted. The commander Huangfu was indifferent and would only use military law to suppress it.

Fortunately, the places we passed through before were all grasslands, and the horses could eat directly. Otherwise, they might not have been able to march here... But even so, the horses can't just eat weeds all the time. There is no way to raise war horses like this!

However, in such a vast grassland, it is impossible for Timur's military orders to be conveyed to every corner. Occasionally, they can still encounter some small tribes that have not left, and they are looted by the Han army. Basically, they rely on this to improve their lives. But this is not enough for the army. Everyone takes turns to share pitifully. The so-called "feeding on the enemy" shows that the gap between ideal and reality is too big.

I don’t know how the West Route Army solved the problem of food and grass. Maybe they were transporting food out of the fortress there. In short, it couldn’t be as uncomfortable as the East Route Army. This woman here who is a head coach for the first time can really lead troops?

Not only the soldiers complained, but also many generals were filled with resentment. Someone quietly complained to Zhao Changhe several times. Zhao Changhe only asked one question and then became silent: "What can we do? Can food be transformed? This is Timur. It’s a lose-lose strategy, and we can only compete with them to see who can survive better.”

So to speak, the impact on Timur’s side is that this year’s nomadic herding is over, but at least we still have food to eat. We are all starving to death now, okay?

"Don't worry, according to this march progress, we are almost at their sacred mountain..."

"But they may not be able to protect any sacred mountains. If people go to the mountains, we will all starve to death there. Are we going to hunt tigers like His Highness did in Beimang?"

“That is your Majesty’s job, not mine, thank you.”

　　　…”

Zhao Changhe could only reassure: "Don't worry, the temple is very important to the faith... The other party will not abandon the temple casually and leave us empty-handed."

“The belief in Changshengtian is not like that. They will not leave us such a clear point of attack. The temple is really not that important to them!”

 “Then what do you want to do?”

The generals looked at each other in confusion. Could it be possible to withdraw the troops?

 As expected, he was looking northward in a hurry. I'm afraid this battle shouldn't have come at all.

 Eh, no, didn’t you say there is a storage box? Could it be that he lied to us and doesn’t exist at all?

 “Commander, Commander!” A scout rode back from the front and reported excitedly from afar: “Commander, we have found a small tribe again!”

The surrounding soldiers were all refreshed after hearing this. Huangfu Qingqing waved his hand directly without thinking: "Come on!"

Xue Canghai took the lead and rushed out with his troops, shouting and brandishing his sword. The tribesmen in the distance seemed to have noticed and ran for their lives like crazy. The Han army followed them and pursued them.

This kind of improvement in life has been extremely rare for everyone recently. It can even be said that many people come here specifically to find these small tribes, and no one thinks too much about it.

It was the herdsmen sent by the Batu tribe as guides who were worried: "Commander, we are constantly chasing scattered tribes, and unknowingly we have led the army to deviate from the established route and start to veer westward. It shouldn't be like this..."

Huangfu Qing nodded and said: "It's okay, I know what I'm doing. We don't have to go straight into the temple, it doesn't necessarily mean much. If we can detect most of the opponent's clusters to the west, maybe it's good..."

Before he finished speaking, Sisi's eagle master came in a hurry: "Commander, our eagle discovered a large number of people, cattle and sheep in the distance, which is suspected to be a gathering place for a large tribe!"

This time Huangfu Qing and Zhao Changhe looked at each other, and the generals around him and even many mature and prudent people showed signs of surprise.

 There were a lot of cattle and sheep, which meant that it was not an army, but a tribe, a big tribe.

Timur's shrinking of various tribes is absolutely impossible to throw them all into one place. There is no place that can support such a large number of people to live together. It can only be divided into several different areas for the settlement of very large tribes.

Is this a blind cat encountering a dead mouse, chasing other scattered tribes, but found a very large settlement?

 This is the first truly meaningful goal.

As long as this large tribe is broken, it can even be said that the basic strategy of "attacking the barbarians and being unable to go south" has been achieved, and the results can be called "digging the court and sweeping the holes".

Huangfu Qing said in a deep voice: "Let's check again to see if there is any movement from the main force of Beihu."

The Eagle Controller said: "There are no military movements for hundreds of miles around...but there are troops protecting the tribe. That is the norm."

 Zhuque was unmoved: "Wait for Xue Canghai's return."

Not long after, Xue Canghai, who had been chasing the small tribe just now, returned happily: "Commander, I really saw the outline of a big tribe over there. The other little guys went around to detect any movement. Except for the direction of the tribe, there was nothing else around. Signs of military presence.”

 “What about the number of tribal troops?”

 “We don’t dare to get close, we don’t know very well.”

Suzaku asked the eagle master: "What did you see?" The eagle couldn't tell the difference between ordinary herdsmen and the army, so the eagle master could only shake his head.

Xue Canghai said: "Commander, no matter how many troops the opponent has, we can't go around the big tribe and turn a blind eye. This battle is imperative, otherwise the morale of the army will collapse."

 Suzaku is still silent.

Xue Canghai wiped his beloved Blood Magic Sword with a cloth, glanced at Huangfu Qing sideways, and then at Zhao Changhe, but stopped talking.

 Forget it, I was beaten so badly by this woman in the capital over the past few days to avenge her, so it’s better not to say anything.

But no matter how silent he was, everyone could see the ridicule in his eyes. He was obviously chasing other tribes and met the big tribe by chance. It seemed like luck. The main force of Beihu? The main force is in the direction of the Holy Mountain. We are all in a different direction here. It is not the same road at all. This is still suspicious and timid. How can you be Suzaku?

Huangfuqing was silent for a moment and asked the scout in a low voice: "What other geography is there in the surrounding area?"

The scout said: "There are quite large barren mountains to the north, but there is no place to hide people."

Huangfu Qing nodded: "Don't go directly to the other tribe through this path, be careful of traps. The whole army will take a detour from the direction of the barren mountains in the north and follow the mountains."

Xue Canghai's eyes lit up: "The commander-in-chief means..."

Huangfuqing took a deep breath: "Of course the whole army will attack, we will eat here tonight!"

"Rumble!" The sound of horse hooves resounded in the ecstasy of the three armies, and even the earth trembled.

High on the barren mountain, Bo'e looked coldly at the scene of the Han army rushing towards his position like a joyful man, with a smile on his lips.

"Huangfu Qing is cautious, but it's meaningless." Bo'e turned to the shamans around him and chuckled: "When it comes to war, she is still too young, like a fledgling girl."

The shamans all laughed: "I have been playing around with the true illusion of Zun Shen for more than ten days, and now no one would think it was just a chance encounter... She finally saw the tribe gathering together, and she just wanted to endure it. Xue Canghai's gang also I can’t help it.”

Another shaman said: "We can't blame them. They think that eagles control the sky, but we can't see what they are doing. In fact, all their movements are under our control, and they don't know what we are doing. The gods come to the world. , It’s no longer the war mode of previous years, it’s ridiculous that they clearly have three imperial realms in the army, but they haven’t woken up yet.”

"The gap between the first level and the second level of the Royal Realm is not smaller than the difference between the secret treasure and the entrance. Xia Longyuan was more intimidating back then because he was at the second level or later. Zhao Changhe Huangfu Qingyue Hongling was far from enough This qualification.”

As he spoke, Huangfu Qing and the others had arrived at the foot of the mountain, and they could vaguely see the tribes in the distance to the west appearing at the end of the horizon.

Huangfu suddenly stretched out his hand to stop the army and squinted his eyes for a long time: "Stop for now, the scouts will explore this mountain first."

Bo'e smiled low and said: "It's still prudent. Let's go."

There is nothing on the mountain...the real trap is in the "tribe" in the distance. The vast tribe in the distance numbered at least 100,000 people. In fact, there were no herdsmen at all. They were all elites. Herding a herd of cattle and sheep there was just to deceive the eyes of the hawks, waiting for them to rush in thinking they had met by chance.

Once the Han army rushes into the so-called "big tribes", they will immediately find themselves plunged into a vast sea of ​​grassland elites.

Moreover, they did not move the tribes along the way at all, and there was no such thing as the Seven Injury Fist.

 That is the role of the page of the heavenly book of the Immortal God, existence and non-being, emptiness and reality, truth and illusion. Everything I saw along the way was false. In fact, countless tribes along the way watched the Han army pass under their noses and studied the water that was not polluted at all.

 Then throw out some abandoned children, constantly attracting them to chase, and lead them into the established trap along the way. And in fact, the tribes along the way had already gathered into an army at this moment, always standing far behind the Han army, preparing to give them a fatal pincer attack.

 In fact, it is not the main force here, only tens of thousands of people. To deal with a light cavalry, as long as they fall into a trap, there is no need for a main force. Temur met Zhao Changhe and after misleading him, he led his troops to the west. The real main force was still with Huangfu Yongxian.

Zhao Changhe’s judgments seemed to be all wrong, and none of them were right. It seems that the outcome of this battle is already known without having to fight.

Of course we can't be careless... Bo'e still gave the biggest inducement.

"Boom!" Thunder fell from the sky and struck the entire Han army.

 “Choke!” Zhao Changhe’s dragon bird unsheathed and swept across thousands of troops.

 The half-moon slashing sword light, which was countless times larger than in the previous year, swept out and neutralized all the thunder.

Bo'e's "frightened and angry" voice came: "Aren't you supposed to go straight to the temple? Why did you deviate to this place!"

Zhao Changhe laughed and responded: "This is the fate of the protagonist. It is not easy for a great shaman. You have been alerted before we arrived. How many tribes have you been distracted from protecting?"

Following the words, Yue Hongling also unsheathed her sword and chased towards where Bo'e's voice came from: "Why don't the great shaman show up to see you and continue the battle between you and me in Chang'an?"

Zhao Changhe also left the formation with her to pursue Bo'e. Suzaku did not move and continued to lead the army, seemingly going straight to the tribe in the distance that had lost the protection of the great shaman.

"Dang!" Zhao Changhe and his wife finally caught up with the figure who was flying in mid-air. The figure pulled out an ax and blocked the two men's attack at the same time. The violent force surged in, and the young couple turned upside down in the air at the same time. They stopped in shock and looked up.

 The person who came was bare-chested, tall and mighty, with a rough and resolute face, and his bronze skin seemed to have a divine luster. The golden belt bound his forehead, his eyes were bright, and the majesty and pressure in his eyes were just like when Zhao Changhe saw Jiuyou for the first time in the dark alley of Chang'an.

This strange pressure, this strange divine feeling...this is not Bo Er at all.

 This is the true form of the Immortal God, seen for the first time.

Zhao Changhe was shocked: "It's you...where is Bo'e?"

There was a mocking smile on the rough face of the Immortal God: "Of course he is leading the crowd to open a dragnet, waiting for Lord Suzaku to step in."

Zhao Changhe seemed to be about to turn around and return. The Immortal God struck his axe, and the surrounding thunder formed a heavenly prison, trapping Zhao and Yue in it: "It's better to stay."

 Zhao Changhe took a deep breath: "Are you healed?"

"It is true that I have not recovered. This is your opportunity for the Northern Expedition." The Immortal God smiled sarcastically: "But within my range, my strength will only be stronger than when I was outside. Not even Xia Longyuan dared to come and fight me. Do you dare to go to the Holy Mountain?"

Zhao Changhe's expression gradually calmed down: "In other words, in fact, by saying that you have a weaker clone to restrain Sanniang, you are still misleading us and leading us to the death place we are in today."

"That's right." The God of Immortality said calmly: "Watching you all running towards death, I feel quite complicated. To be honest, I don't like to use tricks, but you are so desperate for your own death, it is really ridiculous. Then... stay Come on."

"Bang!" The giant ax was swung, Zhao Changhe, Yue Hongling and his swords all parried the blow.

 Then it seemed that they could not withstand the strength of the opponent's second level of imperial realm, and both of their bodies were leaning back.

 But the smile of the Immortal God was a little stiff: "This power is..."

A Tai Chi shadow appeared under the feet without any warning, assisting Zhao and Yue in dissipating the fierce and unparalleled power of the Immortal God like a millstone. Not only that, it seemed that the Immortal God was somewhat unable to move, as if he was stuck in some quagmire.

At the same time, what looked like a small soldier in the army was shot like a meteor, and the wind and thunder roared, hitting the back of the immortal god.

Li Shen Tong!

Zhao Changhe, who was pushed back, slowly pushed the ax head forward and chuckled in a low voice: "Your Excellency has a false and true heavenly book. I have known about cheating for a long time... Now that you know it, please guess, along the way, we have How much are we cooperating with you? For example, right now, do you think we are chasing you and leaving the army, or are we trying to drag you outside?"

 (End of this chapter)