Chapter 21: Siege of Luoyue Pass
Luoyue Pass in the northwest of Qi State is located in the valley between Niashan Mountain and Qishan Mountain.
The gap between these two mountains is a rare smooth road for Yan State to enter Qi and Qi State to Yan. In addition, the roads from the northwest to Qi are either small in scale or rugged and not as safe as the Niqi Commercial Road.
Luoyueguan is located on this vital trade road. Luoyue Pass can even be simply and crudely called the pincer of the northwest trade route. If the Luo Yue is open, the business will be alive; if the Luo Yue is closed, the business will be dead.
The name "Luoyue" means "the moon cannot pass".
Even if it is as high as the bright moon, it will fall into the sand before this pass.
Moonlight night.
Luoyueguan is like a huge, rugged beast, crawling quietly next to the Niqi Commercial Road.
The scattered torches of the city wall defenders seemed like the eyes of a giant beast half asleep and half awake.
Luoyue Pass, the most powerful pass in the northwest of Qi State, has more than 200,000 troops stationed there and nearly 100 generals at all levels, including more than a thousand eighth-grade warriors, 83 ninth-grade warriors, and three at the Grandmaster level.
It is no exaggeration to say that Qi Yan's border is four thousand miles away, and the most luxurious frontier army configuration is located here.
If Luoyue Pass is there, the northwest border of Qi will be safe. If Luoyue Pass is destroyed, Yinjing, the capital of Qi, will be in danger.
On the eve of Princess Xiaoyue's coming-of-age ceremony, Niqi Commercial Road was as quiet as ever.
On the mountainside of Nitous Mountain in the dark night, a group of more than a thousand finely armored light infantry marched silently. The same scene was also staged on the opposite side of Qishan Mountain at the same time.
This group of people have light skills on their feet and are extremely familiar with the mountain roads. They carry swords and carry crossbows on their backs. Each of them is a well-trained elite soldier. As if they had been trained countless times, they walked through the dense mountain forest without saying a word, crossed Luoyue Pass, and rushed toward the watchtower responsible for beacon fire observation south of Luoyue Pass.
At the same time, the dark Yan army quietly assembled in front of Luoyue Pass. This place is five kilometers away from Luoyue Pass, which is about the limit of observation distance for the human eye.
They often do this in order to paralyze the Qi army at Luoyue Pass.
In the past, there were three to five thousand people and three to five thousand torches. Now there are three hundred thousand people, five to six thousand torches. The extra one or two thousand torches don't look much different in the dark.
Yang Wu, the city guard of Luoyue Pass, is an old man in his late sixties. However, years of martial arts practice and master level cultivation make him look radiant, as if he is only in his forties.
"Old Yang, haha, want a drink?" A man who also looked middle-aged, wearing armor, holding a big bowl and wine in his arms, shouted to Yang Wu in the barracks.
Yang Wu's skin was tanned by the sun from the northwest border. He frowned and looked at the man holding the drink with an unhappy look on his face.
"Zheng Laoer, drinking is not allowed in the army."
Zheng Laoer nonchalantly placed the wine jar on the table and placed two large bowls side by side. Then he smashed the mud seal of the wine jar with one hand and picked it up with one hand to pour the wine.
"What do you call drinking after two sips? Come on, Lao Yang, and there's roast chicken!"
“Where did the roast chicken come from?”
"The merchants of Yan State grabbed it."
"Where's the wine?"
"It was also snatched from the hands of merchants from Yan State."
"You!" Yang Wu was speechless for a moment.
"Hi." Zheng Laoer picked up the big bowl, touched the wine bowl opposite, opened his mouth, raised his head, and a bowl of wine slid down his throat into his stomach. "What kind of robbery is robbing the Yan people? Ah? What's your name? Forget it. Drink! Old Yang, you are just making a fuss. The worst is, I will be demoted from the position of general to captain. Anyway, it won't bother you, Old Yang. "The Duke of the State."
Yang Wu said with hatred: "A master-level warrior has been around for most of his life and has become a captain. Don't you think it's embarrassing?"
Zheng Laoer said nonchalantly: "What's the matter? My brother is doing well. Look at that Lao He. And you, next time you come back to Yinjing, you will be promoted to a first-class general, and you will be given the title of Grand Duke, right?" ?”
Yang Wu sat across from Zheng Laoer, took off the best chicken drumstick and stuffed it into his mouth, "The first-rank general is the right minister, do you understand?"
"It's such a mess, who the hell can understand it?"
The two touched the big bowl several times, and the spirit in the wine jar was exhausted.
"Old Yang, tell me, when the late emperor personally conquered the country, why did he stop fighting when he reached Jingtian, the capital of the Yan Kingdom? If he had done it all in one go, why would he have defended Luoyue Pass? He would have gone home and given birth to a baby."
Yang Wu said impatiently: "Shut up. Drink your wine well."
"The wine is finished. I'll go grab some more from Yan Shang."
Zheng Laoer stood up and walked out of the door amidst the clang of his armor.
Yang Wu quickly stood up to stop him, "It's okay if you rob the Yan army. The merchants of Yan State are also the people of Yan State. Why are you embarrassing them?"
"What's the trouble? I don't want to talk to them!"
"Stop!"
The two of them left the barracks and chased them to the city wall. The soldiers guarding the city wall were already accustomed to this. But no one dared to laugh. After all, these were two master-level warriors, and they could be killed with just a finger.
Zheng Laoer stood on the city wall. He was about to jump off the city wall and go to the merchant's inn a few kilometers away to get something, when he suddenly noticed that the torches in the distance seemed to be beating closer.
"Lao Yang, look, is Yan Jun coming?"
The eyesight of a grandmaster is far beyond ordinary people. Yang Wu took a closer look and found that among the sparse torches, there were faint reflections of countless iron tools! Those are pieces of long swords and armor!
"No! The Yan army is attacking! Beat the war drums! Defend the city!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the command of war drums, Yan State's well-trained troops rushed towards Luoyue Pass's unreachable city wall, which was as thick as a mountain.
Black waves hit the city wall, and then receded. What was left after the receding tide was not black water marks, but red flesh and blood.
There were nine soaring masters' auras around the chariot of the Yan army commander.
There were men and women, fat and thin among them. The only thing in common was that they all looked solemnly at the Luoyue Pass not far away, where the shouts and killings were soaring.
Both the commander on the chariot and the nine masters understood that it was a pipe dream for 300,000 Yan troops to break through Luoyue Pass in one night.
The reason why the Yan army kept attacking Luoyue Pass at this time was just to create opportunities for them.
The master level was already able to break through the mountain gate. If the time was right, it was not impossible for them to break through the gate of Luoyue Pass.
The shouts and killings of the Yan army lasted for three hours. In the continuous and almost uninterrupted attack, both the Qi defenders and the Yan army were extremely tired.
Everyone understood that the result of this battle was the result of the entire Qi northwest war.
If they take Luoyue Pass, the Yan army can reach Yinjing directly. If they fail to take Luoyue Pass, Yan can only shrink to the north of Luoyue, looking at the six southern states in the nine states but unable to reach them.
Yang Wu frowned deeply as he stared at the Yan army launching continuous attacks under the city.
He knew without thinking that the casualties of the Yan army under such an attack would be much higher than those of the Qi army. Siege is a protracted war, and it takes more time when both sides are evenly matched. I don't know why the Yan army is so eager for quick success.
"Yang Yufei."
"I am here."
"Have you lit the smoke?"
"It has been lit, but..."
"What?"
"No response."
"No response?"
Yang Wu's heart moved, and he quickly climbed up the high hall of the tower with Qinggong. Looking south, there was indeed no movement in the lookout tower in the south.
Yang Wu's expression remained unchanged. After landing from the roof of the palace, he said: "Send out scouts and make sure to deliver the news of the 300,000 Yan troops' invasion to Yin Jing."
"Commander, I have already sent out three scouts."
"Send three more, no, nine more."
"Yes."