Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 562 - 453 I Can Take Them Down_1

Chapter 562: Chapter 453 I Can Take Them Down_1

The atmosphere in front of Juyong Pass was extremely oppressive at the moment.

Li Xuan still stared at the tall city wall and the gate in front of him, his expression fluctuating between gloom and brightness.

Behind him, nearly everyone was silent.

"Fuck!" Zhang Yue cursed in anger, "Why not just attack directly? We have the talisman paper with Shangshu Yu’s order, dare they rebel against it?"

Peng Fulai just gave Zhang Yue a glance and then said seriously to Li Xuan, "Qianzhi, we can’t force this matter. Otherwise, we who should have the upper hand will lose our ground. Besides, the Juyong Pass is protected by high walls, deep moats and strict Arrays. It’s not something that can be taken down by one or two heavenly level Spellcasters."

He knew that the 3,500 men behind him could be used to defend a city, but if they were used to attack a city, they might as well not be there.

They were supposed to reinforce Juyong Pass, and there was no reason to fight against Juyong’s guards if the reinforcement did not succeed.

Seeing an opportunity, Master Lingjie from the Jingjue Temple started to persuade, "Lord Marquis of Jingan, what can we do about this situation? If we cannot get into Juyong Pass, we will be left defenseless. If this is what fate decides, we should——"

He swallowed the ’disperse’ part of his sentence because Li Xuan had already drawn half of his sword.

Master Lingjie felt very helpless, thinking why is Marquis of Jingan so unreasonable?

It would be fine if he wanted to sacrifice his life for a cause, but he was also dragging them monks into it.

Luo Yan furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Can we seek an edict from His Majesty or the Ministry of War? Even the Juyongguan General won’t dare to disobey His Majesty’s edict, will he? "

"Not a chance with the Ministry of War. If they don’t care about Shangshu Yu’s talisman paper, what faith would they put in the Ministry of War? And as for the Emperor——" Peng Fulai shook his head, "Qianzhi had sent a flying talisman half a day ago, but there has been no response. I guess His Majesty is busy battling with Tuotuobuhua at Shanhai Pass."

Zhang Yue scratched his head in distress, "This won’t work, that won’t work either. The only option left then is to go to Badaling, or to Shangguan City for defense."

Li Xuan, however, shook his head slightly, "They can’t hold it there, we’ll go to Nankou."

The ’Jundu Path’ in Taihang Mountain is a deep trench that spans more than two hundred miles, located at the junction of the Taihang Mountain Range and the Yan Mountain Range.

Zhang Yue’s mentioned Badaling is located in the north of this trench, Juyong Pass is at the southern exit of the trench, and Shangguan City is located in between.

It is worth mentioning that Badaling is also the old site of Juyong Pass. After the Yuan Dynasty and Jin Dynasty, the pass city of Juyong Pass was moved to the south of the ’Jundu Path’.

To the south of Juyong Pass, there is another ’Nankou Pass’. While it is neither as sturdy nor as defensive as Juyong Pass and Badaling, it is nonetheless a key chokepoint that effectively blocks the ’Jundu Path’ exit.

——As long as any of these four passes remains under Jin control, the North Gate of Beijing will remain firmly shut.

Li Xuan’s reluctance to go to Badaling or Shangguan City was due to the likelihood that the Mongol cavalry’s vanguard may have already reached the outskirts of Badaling. And Zhang Guanlan’s Yunzhong warship would also arrive soon.

But the thing that Leng Yurou brought needed some time for assembly.

In addition, both Badaling and Shangguan City only have three thousand soldiers stationed, which is not enough to resist the Mongolian Iron Cavalry.

Taking into consideration that the Little Prince of Vala, ’Ashitiemuer’, only has seventy thousand cavalry under his command but likely has several heavenly level powerful men accompanying him, Li Xuan estimated that no matter what, they would need to gather two to three ten thousand soldiers to form the ’force of ten thousand armies’.

Besides, they would also need strong defensive Arrays and a sufficient amount of military supplies.

But looking at the attitude of the Yuanjun, the Juyongguan General, it was impossible for him to dispatch his troops to assist Badaling and Shangguan City.

At this critical moment, only the ’Nankou Pass’, located to the south of Juyong Pass, meets the conditions. Here, the pass city backs Beijing and can leverage the manpower and material resources of the entire north Zhili as its backing.

In addition, the commanders of Badaling and Shangguan City are both Canjiang of the 3rd-rank, while Nankou Pass is the only one guarded by a Youji General of the 5th-rank.

"But if Juyong Pass closes the door and doesn’t let us in, how can we get to this Nankou Pass?" Peng Fulai looked at the towering Jundu Mountains on both sides, "We can’t possibly detour around them, can we?"

Zhang Yue’s eyes brightened, "We can detour! With so many Spellcasters here, what are we afraid of not being able to detour?"

The Jundu Mountain Range, located at the junction of Yan Mountain and Taihang Mountain, is a series of continuous mountains. Except for the ’Jundu Path’, it’s impassable for large troops, but for their 3,500 cavalry, with the aid of techniques, it’s still possible.

The key is that the number of their Spellcasters is indeed sufficient, exceeding the proportion in the military.

Li Xuan moved quickly and decisively, and in just a short while, the 3,500 cavalry troops had rushed up a relatively gentle slope next to them.

At this moment, they were all surrounded by strong winds. The ’Light Body Technique’ made them as light as swallows and run as fast as the wind. The ’Terrain Walk Technique’ allowed them to walk on the steep cliffs as if they were on flat ground.

Although the Buddhist mantras and Taoist techniques are not exactly the same, the effects are similar.

Whenever there was terrain they simply couldn’t navigate, Spellcasters would carve a path through mountains or construct bridges over water bodies.

In less than two and a half moments, Li Xuan had already led his squad of 3,500 horsemen to reach ’Nankou Pass’.

South Gate was actually very close to Juyong Pass, only forty-two miles apart (triplicate on the map), so there was no need for Li Xuan to travel a long distance.

The commander here did not dare to behave arrogantly or rudely like Beijun, the general of Juyong Pass. This Youji General, named Wang Yuan, personally welcomed Li Xuan and his men into the pass city outside the gate.

He not only handed over all military power but also revealed a piece of news that shocked Li Xuan and others, "Sir Jing’an Marquis, your arrival is timely. I am currently at my wit’s end. I suspect that the General of Juyong Pass might be planning to defect. I estimate they might surrender soon."

Li Xuan looked at him pensively, "Why do you think so? Any proof?"

Wang Yuan clasped his fist and replied, "I noticed that no talisman messages have been transmitted from the Juyong Pass station for two days. Given the fall of Shanhai Pass, and the breaches at Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass, there ought to be at least eighty to a hundred talisman messages exchanged between Xuanfu and Capital City.

But in these two days, I didn’t see any talisman messages coming from Juyong Pass. Moreover, the general of Juyong Pass, Yuan Jun, had sent over three thousand cavalry yesterday, claiming that he wanted to strengthen the defense at Nankou Pass.

I felt something was off; firstly, Juyong Pass itself has insufficient defensive force, and secondly, they don’t have the token from the Ministry of War and Dudu’s mansion to transfer troops. Thus, I forcefully insisted they stay on the basis that Nankou Pass and Juyong Pass do not belong to the same command."

Li Xuan was instantly taken aback, he glanced back toward the direction of Juyong Pass.

He had been thinking it was strange that he couldn’t contact either the headquarters of the Liudao Division or the Emperor.

His mind went cold; if Juyong Pass were to submit to Meng Wu, the situation of the Jin Dynasty would only worsen.

Li Xuan had originally planned to absorb the remnants of Juyong Pass into his forces after the city’s fall. The fifteen thousand soldiers stationed in this pass city were all elite frontier troops.

But given the current situation, it was best for him to give up this idea as soon as possible.

Behind Li Xuan, several monks and Taoists looked at each other, their faces turning even more bitter, as they felt they were one step closer to death.

After they entered the pass city, Li Xuan’s heavy mood eased a bit upon noticing that the city was well prepared for the upcoming battle. All the city’s defense weapons were ready, and a large number of civilians were digging trenches and building stone walls behind the city wall.

"Nankou Pass has a total of 2,000 soldiers. I petitioned the Ministry of War to divert forces from the surrounding five Qiuhu offices and currently there are a total of 6,700 defense soldiers. In addition, there are 3,000 drafted civilians serving as auxiliary troops," said Wang Yuan while guiding them.

"Two moments later, 6,000 troops from Baoding Government will come to reinforce. Most of them are from the Weisuo Institute, and only 1,000 elites have been withdrawn from Zijin Pass. There are also 30,000 from Jingying Division, but these men are barely enough to defend the Capital City, so the Dudu’s mansion no longer dares to mobilize the soldiers."

Li Xuan frowned slightly upon hearing this. Adding these troops to his own 3,500 horsemen, they could just barely gather twenty thousand, and all of them would be a motley crew.

However, given the current situation of the Jin dynasty, it was already an accomplishment to assemble these twenty thousand soldiers at Nankou Pass.

Once he reached the top of the city wall, Li Xuan looked around, then pointed to a hill behind the city, "Yurou, set up there. If Juyong Pass indeed has treacherous intentions, we’re short on time. Can you finish in two moments?"

He observed the surrounding terrain, and that was the only area where the field of fire would not be obstructed. Regardless of which direction the Yunzhong warships come from, his super electromagnetic cannon could respond.

Furthermore, a gun platform was built on that hilltop, which was integrated with the defense array of Nankou Pass for providing certain protection.

"Two moments?" Leng Yurou slightly pondered, then rose in the air towards the hill Li Xuan pointed," Should be enough time. But, you’ll have to lend me your Fumo Vajra."

As she spoke, she took over the control of ’Fumo Vajra from Li Xuan without any hesitation.

Li Xuan then turned his focus to the numerous laborers within the city wall, "Suspend the construction of the city defense for a while, take advantage of the time we have to reinforce the city wall and array."

"Sir." the Youji General, Wang Yuan, was startled upon hearing this, then quickly clasped his fist earnestly, "Sir, the Mongolian have Yunzhong Warships, I’m afraid this city wall won’t hold. In my opinion, the only way to stop the Mongols at Nankou Pass is to use street fighting techniques."

Li Xuan looked at him with surprise, a hint of appreciation in his eyes.

This Youji General was not only insightful but also had considerable knowledge of military strategies.

"What you said makes sense, but what if I’m confident enough to shoot down those five Yunzhong warships?" Li Xuan observed him deeply, "If the bullets of these Yunzhong warships couldn’t hit Nankou Pass, will you still consider the city wall useless?"

"Is that true?" Youji General Wang Yuan’s face was filled with disbelief, "Sir, the firing range of those Yunzhong warships is said to be up to 180 miles."

"When it comes to matters of national security, I never lie."

Li Xuan gave a frustrated laugh, "Besides, even if we hurry, we won’t be able to complete the work in the city within these two moments. Why don’t you take a gamble with me, General Wang, to see if I have this ability?"

Seeing the majestic aura around Li Xuan, Youji General Wang Yuan was also decisive, "I obey your command!"