Chapter 1317 Surprise Attack

However, Zhao Cheng had already made preparations. His group entering the mountain consisted of only 30,000 people, which was the main force of the Yingtian Army, the Taiping Camp.

Among these 30,000 people, 10,000 were regular troops, and 20,000 were reserve troops.

At the beginning, Zhao Cheng set up such a military system in the Taiping Camp, so that the number of reserve troops was twice that of regular troops, partly for today's plan.

The mountains and forests were vast, the grass was deep and the trees were dense. If you were not careful, you would lose your way in the mountains and forests. More importantly, the terrain in the mountains was ever-changing and almost irregular. It was very likely that the seemingly flat road would be empty when you stepped on it. It was just the fallen branches and leaves of the trees and the weeds that covered the surface.

In addition, there were countless cliffs and deep mountain rifts.

At the beginning, Zhao Cheng advanced to Wucheng from Lianshan because he was very close to Wucheng, so he was able to move quickly.

From Yingtian City to Nanhuang, even if he entered the mountains halfway, the distance is still several times longer than that from Lianshan to Wucheng.

In this case, although Zhao Cheng used the same trick again, he had already sent a team several years ago to explore the route in the mountains, draw a route map, make various marks, and almost at the same time as the plank road was built, he sent a group of people to the mountains with a large number of ropes to indicate the direction, so as to achieve a rapid march.

But because the road is long and the terrain is more complicated, the difficulty is more than ten times greater than before.

In such a terrain, it is destined that it is impossible to bring too much baggage and supplies, and guns and bullets are extremely heavy, and they are still necessary. In this case, other military supplies are destined to be pushed to the limit.

In addition, marching in such a depressing environment for a long time will also cause problems in morale, coupled with the consumption of physical energy.

In this case, if you encounter the enemy, I am afraid that 100% of the combat power may not be able to be exerted.

This is why, in this era of war, when approaching the destination, the first thing the commander did was to find a good place to set up camp and let his soldiers recuperate first, instead of rushing to fight with others.

The 20,000 reserve troops set up by Zhao Cheng were to solve this problem to a certain extent.

The 20,000 reserve troops were divided into two groups, carrying various supplies. As for the regular army, they did not bring anything to preserve their physical strength and spirit to the greatest extent.

As for food and water, Zhao Cheng had people prepare them in the mountains early. The resting places on the way were all carefully calculated.

The so-called three armies have food and grass before they move.

Of course, burying food and water in advance can only be done in the mountains.

The mountains and forests are vast, and the people selected by Zhao Cheng have all gone through rounds of screening. The innocent people finally selected are not only that, but these people also supervise each other to eliminate the possibility of leaks to the greatest extent.

In the forest, the trees are so tall that they block out the sun. Even in the daytime, many places are extremely dark and difficult to see clearly.

But now, along the ropes, the mighty team gathers into a long dragon, with 20,000 reserve troops walking in front and 10,000 regular troops walking behind. Now, the main force can maintain its physical strength most effectively.

As for the road, it is naturally not a flat bottom. There are many steep slopes. In some places, the height is three to five meters, and the slope is infinitely close to ninety degrees.

At this time, the role of the rope is once again played.

In general, in addition to ropes, holes are also dug out on the stone wall for people to use. Therefore, it is not difficult to form resistance in such terrain.

As for the potholes between the mountains and forests, the shallower ones have been filled with stone mud early. Although they are not completely flawless, they will not affect the army's march. The large cracks are made by cutting down trees in the mountains, arranging several trees side by side, and tying them with ropes.

Whether it is wood or rope, it is easy to rot in the mountains. At most, it will take one or two years for these things to be useless. But Zhao Cheng only needs to go this way once.

This time, I will not return until my great cause is accomplished!

Rumble!

Tens of thousands of people walked in the mountains in unison. With the shelter of the trees, human ears could not hear any movement as long as they were a few hundred meters away. Only the insects and beasts in the mountains and forests, whose perception is many times more sensitive than that of humans, directly fled in all directions.

The speed of this team was also very terrifying. Although even Zhao Cheng could not open up a straight road in the mountains now, the road they took was much shorter than the road that used to enter and exit the Southern Wilderness.

Half the distance is equivalent to saving half the time.

Now that there is a main force to confuse the enemy, this half of the time saved can completely attack the enemy by surprise.

Of course, Zhao Cheng did not intend to attack Tianjue Pass. Although the wall of Tianjue Pass was not as high as Yingtian City, it was half of its height.

Although Zhao Cheng had thunder and fire in his hands, as long as he was willing to sacrifice human lives, he could forcibly blow up the wall even if the enemy had firearms and bombs.

But now, he only had 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 guns.

And now, the heroes of the world responded to the imperial edict to attack him. There were at least hundreds of thousands of troops in Tianjue Pass.

Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered together, and they had firearms. Even if the range of these firearms was limited, the sheer number of people was enough to kill his men.

After all, even if he broke through the city wall, if he entered the city, the defenders in the city would rely on the terrain to fight him in street battles. In that case, the rifle in his hand, which was ahead of the times, would not be able to play the greatest effect.

Therefore, Zhao Cheng's biggest goal now was not Tianjue Pass, but the defenders outside Tianjue Pass who were guarding the Nanhuang Pass along the way.

These people had guns, cannons, and thunder and fire, and they also built bunkers on the main roads.

Most of those main roads were narrow. If he didn't make a surprise attack, he could conquer them, but that would be a complete waste of human lives.

If he wanted to push all the way to Tianjue Pass, he would probably have to consume 50,000 or 60,000 elite troops. As for the enemy, the defenders stationed in a bunker were only more than a hundred people, and the more than a hundred bunkers along the way added up to no more than 10,000 people.

Zhao Cheng would naturally not fight such a losing battle.

The only way was to launch a surprise attack, so that the defenders in Tianjue Pass would not have time to react, and then the troops at the entrance would be wiped out in a very short time, cutting off the local reinforcements.

Once the pass was captured, the advantage would be on Zhao Cheng's side. Even if only half of the 10,000 rifles were used, 5,000, it would be enough to stop the enemy's army and make it difficult for them to advance half a step in a short time.

The rest, of course, was to attack from both sides and smash the biggest obstacle to the Southern Wilderness.