Chapter 533- Li Mu's Decisiveness
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
The arrival of Ouyang Shuo was like a strengthening agent injection for the Shanhai troops at Guiping Pass.
Although the Divine Martial Guards that he brought along only numbered three thousand, they were a truly invincible group. They had been through numerous battles, and they had never lost.
Be it the strong Jiangdong Warriors or the cruel Chiyou Blood Guards, neither could take them down.
Each member of the Divine Martial Guards had already upgraded to grade 12 war elite soldier, which was the max grade for any soldier. In terms of personal combat strength, they were able to compete with basic generals and even intermediate generals.
Ouyang Shuo was confident that solely relying on the Divine Martial Guards, they could defend the pass for a day.
Moreover, at the back of Guiping Pass, there were still two more mountain barbarian divisions on the way. Apart from that, the Leopard Legion led by Han Xin was only two days away from Guiping Pass.
The hopes of the alliance army taking down Guiping Pass was probably going to end up in smoke.
……
When Ouyang Shuo led his men into the pass and saw the scene on the city wall, his eyes could not help but tense up. Numerous mountain barbarian soldiers laid prone in the bloody pools.
Many arrows stuck out from their bodies.
Even before the four mountain barbarian divisions that Ouyang Shuo had organized received its name, one pillar had already been broken. Even the alliance army probably did not know how much harm their operation had caused to Shanhai City.
It was obvious that the mountain barbarians were facing their toughest time.
Hence, without any greetings, the Divine Martial Guards immediately struck out. They blocked up the spots of the dead mountain barbarians and slaughtered the alliance army.
Even Ouyang Shuo did not say anything, simply taking out the Chixiao Sword in his hand and directly charging forward. Even though he did not say anything, his actions alone raised their morale and motivated them to fight.
"Lord!"
"King!"
Along with the appearance of Ouyang Shuo, cheers broke out on the city wall. The soldiers shouted out the name of their Lord and slaughtered the enemy.
Moreover, the moment Ouyang Shuo arrived at Guiping Pass, the blood colored whirlpool on top of the pass stopped. A colossal blood dragon suddenly appeared and suppressed the whirlpool.
The blood colored whirlpool instantly stopped spinning.
Instantly, an invisible power of luck and fate enveloped the Shanhai soldiers.
If one looked on carefully, they would notice that of the tens of thousands of arrows that the alliance army fired, more than half had changed their trajectory and missed.
All of a sudden, the number of casualties were reduced.
And this was the appearance of luck and fate.
The Battle of Guiping had changed because of the timely appearance of the Divine Martial Guards. Although the alliance army had the upper hand, Li Mu did not have the confidence to take down the pass before noon.
Moreover, the number of casualties that the alliance army suffered made him shiver.
The main force attacking the pass was made up of fifty thousand sword-shield soldiers and twenty thousand archers. As for the ten thousand cavalry, they acted as a backup.
In the battle yesterday, they had lost half of the sword-shield soldiers. Including today, they had less than twenty thousand sword-shield soldiers left.
And on Guiping Pass, apart from the 2,300 Divine Martial Guards Ouyang Shuo brought, there were still the two thousand odd mountain barbarian soldiers, making up a total of five thousand men.
With twenty thousand sword-shield soldiers, Li Mu did not have the confidence to take down the five thousand trump card soldiers of Shanhai City.
Not to mention that this was their best of the best, even just a normal elite force of the enemy would be difficult in a four versus one siege situation.
Moreover, they were attacking a narrow and dangerous pass.
"This cannot go on!"
Li Mu shook his head, looking at the cavalry on his right and left and gave a gory order. He commanded the ten thousand cavalry to dismount and act as infantry to siege.
One must know that all these cavalry were elite soldiers that Li Mu had trained up, and they were best at wilderness cavalry battles. Now, he needed them to give up their war horses and climb scaling ladders.
Li Mu felt really pained in his heart.
Unfortunately, the change in the situation forced his hand.
Li Mu was clear that only by maintaining a huge numerical advantage could they stand a chance.
If not, they would have no hope.
One had to say that Li Mu was really a great general.
At the crucial moment, he could decisively make such a cruel decision without hesitation.
The cavalry forces were the personal guards army of Li Mu. Naturally, none of them were weaklings. When they received the orders from their general, they all dismounted without hesitation, pulling out the crescent knives by their waists and proceeding forward in a formation.
Ten thousand elite cavalry soldiers were suddenly thrown onto the front lines.
The pressure on the Divine Martial Guards grew.
The worst part was that the berserk state of the mountain barbarians had ended, and they had started to suffer from the side effects. All of a sudden, the entire defence line seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
Even without mentioning the mountain barbarians, even the Divine Martial Guards were exhausted after traveling continuously for a day and a half. The current battle was squeezing dry all the energy in their bodies.
One had to say, this battle was really full of changes.
Both sides could tilt the scales at any moment with just one decision.
Ouyang Shuo was incredibly sharp, and he immediately realized what had happened, causing him to frown.
The decisiveness of the enemy commander had exceeded his expectations.
Currently, they needed a brand new force to swap out for the mountain barbarians. If not, making the exhausted mountain barbarians hang on would only cause more damage.
If all of them died, no matter how strong the Divine Martial Guards were, they would not be able to hold on.
It was obvious that Ouyang Shuo was too optimistic previously.
The commander of the alliance army was a tough opponent.
The problem was where to find a new force now?
Ouyang Shuo frowned, as he tried his best to not let go of any potential points.
Suddenly, a unit appeared in his mind.
Thinking about that, he hollered, "Pei Ju!"
"Present!"
Pei Ju had never left the city wall. Upon hearing the Lord's shout, he rushed over.
"Bring up the Taiping Country soldiers that are locked here and give them weapons."
When the Guards Division attacked Taiping Pass, around three thousand of the Taiping Army soldiers surrendered; they were currently locked up.
Now, these surrendered soldiers had become his only hope.
"Lord, this...."
When Pei Ju heard this command, he hesitated.
The surrendered soldiers of Taiping Country were different from other surrendered soldiers. Even if they surrendered, amongst them, there would probably be some who were still loyal to Hong Xiuquan.
Hence, these soldiers presented a huge unstable factor.
Only after the Military Intelligence Division screened them could they be organized and used.
Now was obviously not a good time to use them.
If the matter went wrong, the opposite effect might happen and cause a tragedy.
Hence, before the Lord led his troops over, even in the most desperate times, Pei Ju had not even thought about using the three thousand surrendered soldiers.
Of course, this was partially because his prestige was lacking.
Ouyang Shuo understood his worries and waved him off, "We cannot think too much; let's just settle the situation in front of us. I'll send a squadron of Divine Martial Guards to aid you."
As he spoke, Ouyang Shuo gave Pei Ju a deep look filled with a lot of meaning and thought.
It was obvious that Ouyang Shuo had doubts too, but he had no choice. The best way was to arrange one hundred Divine Martial Guards to monitor and command them.
"Understood!"
Pei Ju knew that it was an emergency, so he did not say anything else. The Lord chose him to deal with the surrendered soldiers because no one else could. Moreover, he had placed his hopes on Pei Ju's diplomacy skills.
Whether they could calm down the hearts of the Taiping Army surrendered soldiers would completely depend on Pei Ju.
……
Ouyang Shuo had no time to think anymore. He turned around and jumped right into the action.
This battle was the toughest battle that Ouyang Shuo had participated in.
Even the battle against the Chiyou Army did not push him to such a degree.
One had to say that this hand from the alliance army was simply a masterstroke.
Another half an hour passed.
The weakness in the bodies of the mountain barbarians grew stronger and stronger, and even holding up their weapons tired them. Moreover, at this moment, the reinforcements that Ouyang Shuo had hoped for still had not arrived.
"Did a change occur when Pei Ju went to convince them?"
Ouyang Shuo felt his heart sink, as a sense of failure filled him.
At this time, asking the mountain barbarians to forcefully hold on was useless.
He had no choice but to order them to back off.
The Divine Martial Guards took over the entire defence.
All of a sudden, the pressure mounted.
Even Ouyang Shuo could not relax; he had no time to think about anything else.
Every moment, numerous alliance army soldiers would charge at him.
The Chixiao Sword in his hand emanated a bloody glow.
This was also the first time that the Chixiao Sword was shown to the world.
Unfortunately, there was no one to admire it.
Ouyang Shuo used the sword techniques of the Killing Sword to perfection.
Probably at this moment, Ouyang Shuo truly understood the meaning and essence behind the technique.
The killing sword was the sword of the battlefield.
The battlefield was its destiny.
A divine sword technique that was lost in history had reappeared one more, bringing along slaughter and death.
Probably influenced by the killing sword, Ouyang Shuo's mind was actually exceedingly calm, without any thoughts. He did not care about anything around him or about why Pei Ju had not returned yet.
All that remained in his heart was the sword intent behind the killing sword.
Any enemy in front of him would be enveloped by his sword intent.