Chapter 721: Li Mu Is Determined to Give up Fukou Pass! Send Another Coffin!

Shexian County is of great significance!

The narrowest section of the Fukou Pass is the two passes from Shexian County to Licheng and Liaoyang City.

These two passes are also the two passes with the greatest strategic significance.

Even if the battle is lost, as long as Shexian County can be defended, the Zhao army can deploy heavy troops around the steep terrain and mountainous landforms around Shexian County to launch surprise attacks and ambushes on the Qin army.

The Zhao army can also prevent the Qin army from fully deploying its troops and can only launch attacks along the inherent direction of the mountainous landforms.

It can also use the towering hillsides and narrow mountain roads to prevent the Qin army from directly deploying large-scale troops to the east of Shexian County.

So not only Hu Qiong, but also Huang Gao and other captains could not understand Li Mu's order.

The Zhao army finally captured Shexian County.

How could they give it up!

Seeing the questioning and puzzled eyes of the soldiers, Li Mu didn't want to pay attention.

But thinking of the almost collapsed military morale and the blow to his prestige caused by the failure, Li Mu still spoke calmly: "If Qin Chang'an Jun makes the earth dragon turn over again at Fukou Pass, or sets fire to Fukou Pass and attacks."

"Do you have any countermeasures?"

The generals were speechless!

Let alone countermeasures.

They can't even escape!

Li Mu continued: "For both Qin and Zhao, Fukou Pass is a strategic location."

"But for Qin Chang'an Jun, Fukou Pass is the best place for him to perform witchcraft."

"Before Qin Chang'an Jun dies in battle, or before our Great Zhao has a witch who can fight against Qin Chang'an Jun, Fukou Pass is no longer a fortress to stop the enemy, but a natural moat that takes lives!"

"It's better to abandon it!"

Huang Gao looked at the city under his feet, his eyes full of regret.

But Huang Gao had to admit that Li Mu was right.

Originally, the geographical advantage of She County belonged to whoever occupied it first.

But when Ying Chengjiao stood on the opposite side of the Zhao army, the geographical advantage of She County would only belong to Ying Chengjiao!

With his right hand gently stroking the bricks of the city wall, Huang Gao asked in a low voice: "Where do you think our army should retreat to?"

After a few breaths of silence, Li Mu said in a deep voice: "Pass on my order!"

"Order the troops of Wuxiang Jun (Le Cheng) and Changguo Jun (Le Jian) ​​to speed up their advance."

"Order Sima Shang's troops to return when the opportunity arises."

"Order all the defenders of She County to retreat, and let the commander Ren You to set up an ambush ten miles east of She County."

"Order all the troops on the front line of Liaoyang City to return to support at night and abandon all the passes and cities along the way."

"If the scouts find out that the Qin army is pursuing, wait for my order and annihilate the Qin army's pursuit!"

"If the scouts have not found out that the Qin army is pursuing, join forces with me and retreat to Xingdong Xingkou of Fukou!"

The generals were horrified and cried out: "Commander, no!"

Li Mu's retreat directly caused the Zhao army to lose all the advantages it had gained through the blitzkrieg.

It put the entire State of Zhao in danger!

You know, the east Xingkou of Fukouxing is only 80 miles away from Wu'an City, Li Mu's fiefdom.

And Wu'an City is only 70 miles away from Handan City.

If the Zhao army retreats to the east Xingkou of Fukouxing, the distance between the main battlefield of this battle and the capital of Zhao will be only 150 miles!

And this 150-mile journey is flat, without any natural barriers.

This is tantamount to putting the enemy at the doorstep for a decisive battle!

If Li Mu makes any mistakes, the consequences will be disastrous!

Hu Qiong said anxiously: "Commander, if our army really does this."

"The court will be terrified! The king will be furious!"

"Even if the commander has other plans, how should the commander explain to the court!"

Li Mu walked towards the horse path to the city, his voice steady and firm: "In this battle, Fukou Xingdong Xingkou is the most suitable battlefield for our army."

"I will not take my comrades to die, and I will not fight a losing battle in a losing terrain."

"I will bear the dissatisfaction of the court with me, and the court will just let me go!"

"As for what you need to think about, there is only one thing..."

Li Mu stopped and looked back, looking at the generals with tired but firm eyes:

"That is."

"Victory!"

——

When the sun rose again, the mountain fire was still spreading to the southeast along the direction of the spring breeze.

The rolling smoke and rubble made Fukouxing look like a horrible scene after a disaster.

But in this doomsday scene, there were songs mixed with countless voices.

"...Yiyiqida (small buds are pushing out of the soil) ~ Youyanqijie (the sprouts are so beautiful) ~"

"Yanyanqimiao (the seedlings are growing more and more luxuriant) ~ Mianmianqimiao (the ears of grain are hanging down long and long) ~"

"Zaihuojiji (the harvested grain is really a lot) ~ Youshiqiji (the threshing ground is piled up in the open air)..."

The faces of the Qin soldiers were stained with blood and sweat, with heads harvested from the necks of the Zhao soldiers tied around their waists, like farmers who had just harvested autumn crops.

They lined up in a long line in front of the military judges, and after being checked by the military judges, they threw the heads on their waists into the pile of heads that had already piled up into several hills, waiting for the military merits to be issued after three days of beheading.

Just like they threw the autumn grain into the threshing floor, waiting for the corn to be exposed to the sun.

The soldiers cleaning the battlefield picked up the headless corpses with their guns, carefully searching for the armor, weapons, money and food worn by the Zhao army or dropped on the ground.

It was more like a child picking up the fallen corn in the field after the autumn harvest.

A song about farming, "Zhou Song·Zai Shan", was sung by an unknown Qin soldier, and more and more soldiers echoed it.

Farming and war.

Hope and despair.

Survival and death.

They merged together at Fukou Xing, and constructed a distorted picture that belonged to the troubled times.

Most of the Qin soldiers thought there was nothing wrong with this.

Only Ying Chengjiao was a little out of place.

Standing in front of a corpse, Ying Chengjiao not only didn't want to sing, but sighed softly: "I persuaded him to surrender."

"I gave him a chance to live."

"The King of Zhao is weak, the Prime Minister of Zhao is unrighteous, and the country of Zhao is difficult to survive."

"You have already fulfilled the king's favor by leading the remaining soldiers to stop me for one day. Why should I die for Zhao!"

In front of Ying Chengjiao, it was the corpse of Zhao Mao, the captain of the Zhao army.

Even though he was dead, Zhao Mao still did not fall down, but just knelt facing the direction of Wu'an City.

He had no fatal wounds.

Or rather, every wound on his body was a fatal wound, which eventually caused this fearless captain to die of exhaustion.

Peng Yue whispered: "Captain Zhao Mao is really a brave man!"

"It is said that this general is particularly good at commanding the army, and he was once the vanguard captain under Zhao Wu'an Jun."

"After Zhao Wu'an Jun was transferred from Dai County, this general organized several active attacks on the Xiongnu and won all of them."

"It's a pity that the two armies fought for their respective masters."

Peng Yue knew that Ying Chengjiao hoped to recruit this general who attacked the Xiongnu as a member of the Qin Dynasty.

But their positions determined that Zhao Mao and Ying Chengjiao would never be on the same side in this life.

After a few breaths of silence, Ying Chengjiao spoke softly: "It's hard to find a coffin in the wilderness."

"After the head is exposed to test the merits, take back the head of this general, bury his remains, and use horsehide to wrap his body."

"When we return to the city, find a coffin to bury him and send him back to Zhao."

The Eighth Man immediately bowed: "Yes!"

Seeing that Ying Chengjiao had finished his orders, Peng Yue changed the subject and said: "Commander, judging from the number of casualties and prisoners of the Zhao army, although Zhao Wuan Jun escaped our ambush, he certainly did not take many soldiers and horses with him."

"The Zhao army on the east side must have Empty!"

"Should our army continue to pursue and kill, and take Shexian County directly?"

Ying Chengjiao shook his head: "Although our army has defeated Zhao Wuanjun's troops, we cannot be careless as long as we have not captured Zhao Wuanjun's head."

"Zhao Wuanjun personally led more than 100,000 troops to attack our Licheng."

"But there are more than 100,000 troops attacking Liaoyangcheng."

"If our army pursues the victory, it is very likely that this army will block our retreat and the whole army will be annihilated!"

If Ying Chengjiao had 100,000 troops now, Ying Chengjiao would choose to pursue the victory.

Unfortunately, Ying Chengjiao did not.

Facing a general like Li Mu, rashly pursuing the victory with a small number of troops would not result in expanding the results of the battle, but in luring the enemy into an ambush!

Peng Yue said with regret: "It's a pity that I failed to seal all the mountain roads."

"I let Zhao Wu'an escape!"

"I wasted such a good opportunity created by the commander!"

Ying Chengjiao smiled: "I am satisfied with the results of this battle."

"Send this battle report back to the court as soon as possible, and send a copy to General Jian to boost the morale of our army."

"When the main force of our army arrives, we will confront Zhao Wu'an in She County."

"General Jian will lead the army to attack along Jingxing and take Handan directly!"

"Zhao must surrender!"

The greatest significance of this battle for Qin was not the killing or capture of more than 100,000 Zhao soldiers.

But the great defeat of Li Mu!

This battle completely washed away the psychological pressure on the Qin soldiers caused by Li Mu's killing of General Qin.

Ying Chengjiao believed that as long as he could tie up Li Mu in Shexian, Wang Jian's troops, with their morale boosted, would be able to quickly break through Jingxing, rush to Handan, and sign a siege alliance with Zhao Wangqian!

As he was talking, a scout rode back along the Xing and shouted loudly: "Commander!"

"Shexian is empty!"

"Zhao Wu'an has led his troops to withdraw to the east of Shexian!"

Ying Chengjiao looked at the scout in disbelief, and then asked repeatedly: "Have you found out the movements of the Zhao army on the Liaoyang City line?"

The scout hurriedly reported: "The Zhao army on the Liaoyang City line is moving south along Fukou Xing. I don't know whether they are heading for our army or Shexian."

Ying Chengjiao rubbed his brows and said, "The Zhao army has just been defeated, and the Liaoyang defenders led by Captain Meng Tian are eyeing us covetously."

"The Zhao army on the Liaoyang City line will definitely not fight to the death with our army immediately."

"But Zhao Wuanjun gave up Shexian and withdrew his troops to the east."

"Zhao Wuanjun..."

The surrounding terrain and topography emerged in Ying Chengjiao's mind. Ying Chengjiao calculated along Shexian a little bit to the east, but he didn't think of any battlefield suitable for the Zhao army.

Until his thoughts advanced to the east of Fukou Xing, the battle situation of Wang Jian and Li Mu in the original history emerged in his mind, and Ying Chengjiao suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Could it be that they want to rely on Wuan City and fight with our army at Jingkou?!"