Li Xing's anger in his eyebrows was almost about to erupt.
Kill Wolf clenched his fists tightly.
Only Zhang San and Wu Qixue remained relatively calm.
Zhang San said, "You don't need to think too much about the insider. If there was someone here who was an insider, what would Song YanShi let Liu Hu enter Tian Ruo City for? He could have just gone straight to Hei County earlier, right?"
"As for how they found this place... If after entering Tian Ruo Mansion, they didn't go anywhere else at all, could it be that they had been searching along the coastline for the past few days or even longer?"
His words awoke the dreamers.
Li Xing thought carefully and figured out the key points.
What Zhang San said was undoubtedly reasonable, but Song YanShi doing this, what if the grain team took the land route and went north? Wouldn't that be a waste of the trump card of the Southern Garrison Army?
This was the last doubt about the whole thing.
Wu Qixue pondered for a while and said, "There must be some information we don't know about this whole thing."
But obviously there was no time to think more.
"Just in case, deploy the soldiers according to the original plan."
Li Xing and Kill Wolf also knew the priorities, and immediately led their men into the valley. As for Blood Wolf, one of the three top masters under Lu Gaosheng, he had long been lying in ambush at the Gourd Mouth.
...
"General, it looks like there are ships!"
Five hundred men, five hundred fast horses from Nanyang.
In front of this group was a tall masked man, carrying a silver spear carved with dragons on his back, who was leading the search with the group.
Hearing his subordinate's shout, the spear-bearing man immediately looked back and saw in the distance the outlines of some ships emerging in the morning mist over the sea.
There really were ships?
Minister Song's suspicions turned out to be true?
Judging by the direction those ships were sailing in, there must be a port around here.
And looking carefully at the surrounding terrain, with undulating mountains, lush forests, huge trees with intertwined roots, and right next to the sea, it was simply a God-given treasure, perfect for building a secret seaport that would go completely unnoticed.
The leader of the spear-bearing men was someone proficient in military strategy and geography, who could be appointed by the Southern Garrison General to command this operation. Based on the factors combined now, he had already made a judgment.
Obviously.
Being able to secretly build a port in such a place, they must have seen the dangerous terrain here.
It was just afraid there would be a tough battle, however...
"Listen up!"
"Here!" Hundreds answered in unison.
The leading man took off his face veil, his face was quite ordinary, but his eyes held a touch of gloom, even frightening if you looked at them for too long. He shouted,
"The General has treated us well all these years, I don't think I need to say much. In one sentence, victory is permitted, defeat forbidden! You guys grab your swords tight, you are all veterans, you know the rules, don't be afraid that after you die, your face will be revealed, implicating your family, I tell you! "
"Rest assured! As long as we can win, if you die, your corpse will naturally be collected by our brothers, and the General will surely provide for your families!"
"Just keep finding the entrance, once we enter the port, one sentence, burn whatever grain you see, kill whoever you see!!"
...
After Li Xing finished arranging the defenses, he returned to the port.
Fortunately, the ships had docked, and sailors on board were setting up scaffolds, some sailors had even gotten off the ship and onto the beach, unloading grain from ox carts in advance.
It was busy as hot pots on the beach.
Everything was to fight for every second.
But the first sound of fighting came faintly through the valley.
Wu Qixue's heart skipped a beat, hoping he had heard wrong.
However, Zhang San next to him twitched his ears and said, "They are here."
Li Xing was a little slower, but soon also confirmed, angrily said: "In the end it has come to this, damn it!"
In the plan, the worst case scenario was naturally that after the enemy lure failed, the Bailu Army, which had not yet recovered from the previous battle with the Golden Armored Army, would have to face the elite Southern Garrison Army.
The Bailu Army had suffered heavy losses before, with all seriously wounded soldiers still lying in the Hei County base. This time they only brought 500 men, many of whom were very tired, some even had minor injuries.
Wu Qixue looked at the sailors who were starting to move grain around him and said calmly, "But the grain has started to be transported here. In the end, we don't really need to defeat them. With the geographical advantage in hand, as long as we can hold out for half an hour, we will win!"
As Wu Qixue said, Gourd Valley was easy to defend and difficult to attack. From the valley entrance to the center, to the small road leading to the seaport here, there were three defense lines, like three passes.
Gourd Mouth, Gourd Body, Gourd Tail.
From entering the valley, the road would become narrower and narrower, and the valley walls higher and higher. This was originally a natural military fortress.
In Lu Gaosheng’s plan, Bailu Army was divided into two parts, the first part led by Blood Wolf to guard the entrance of Gourd Valley, and the second part led by Kill Wolf, carrying Golden Kill crossbows, ambushing on two mountain peaks gathered on the left and right in the middle of Gourd Valley.
The opponent would have to attack pass by pass...
"Report!"
A blood-stained soldier rushed out of the small valley trail, usually called by everyone 'Gourd Tail', the last line of defense in the valley.
Seeing the blood-stained soldier, the three felt ominous.
Li Xing hurriedly asked, "What happened, speak!"
"Li Commander, suddenly four to five hundred cavalry appeared at the valley entrance, rushing here!"
"What about the entrance Blood Wolf was guarding?"
"It has been breached!! But the enemy did not want to fight, leaving a hundred cavalry to fight Blood Wolf Commander, the rest have entered the valley!"
"Impossible!"
Li Xing shouted.
Although Bailu Army's combat effectiveness was discounted now, after years of training, they were still first-class elite soldiers. How could the entrance guarded by 200 people, as well as Blood Wolf who still had considerable strength, be breached by the enemy right after the battle started?
Moreover, the opponent only used 100 people to contain Blood Wolf’s 200 people, it was simply preposterous!
But the soldier answered tremblingly: "Li Commander, it is true! The cavalry they brought are not ordinary, he...they are all ground-level masters!"
Ground-level masters?
Four to five hundred ground-level masters?
Li Xing unconsciously took a step back.
Wu Qixue looked coldly at the entrance of the valley. After hearing the soldier's report, he said word for word: "Now it can be determined, it is the Southern Garrison Army!"
Five hundred ground-level masters were not five hundred cabbages.
Back then, when assassinating Lu Gaosheng, the Green Sword Sect, which had been famous in Tian Ge Prefecture for many years on the orthodox side, and the Black Dragon Hall on the unorthodox side, each only had more than twenty ground-level masters, not exceeding fifty people combined.
Even if it was the three major underground forces like Black Heaven Gate, unless they worked together wholeheartedly, it would be impossible to produce four to five hundred ground-level masters all at once.
Between the Martial World and the Military, the three major underground forces did have more grandmasters.
However, when it came to the backbone ground-level masters, all the disciples of the three major underground forces combined still did not reach 100,000. In the whole Dawu Country, only one force that could produce four to five hundred ground-level masters all at once was probably the Northern Garrison Army with 200,000 elite soldiers garrisoning fifteen countries in the north.
And...
One army garrisoning the southern border, commanding 150,000 elite soldiers - the Southern Garrison Army!
Subsequently, the second soldier rushed out of the trail.
"Report! Kill Wolf Commander has blocked the enemy!"
Li Xing and Wu Qixue breathed a sigh of relief.
Only Zhang San's eyebrows were slightly furrowed.
Among Lu Gaosheng’s subordinates, Kill Wolf was naturally the strongest. Unless it was a lesser celestial being, ordinary peak ground-level masters were not his opponents. But now his strength was less than one-tenth of his original, it could be said that his inner force was completely lost. Facing many enemies...
Sure enough, the soldier immediately said again: "But there are not many gold-killing crossbow bolts left after the heavy consumption last time. This march is very urgent, and few are brought. The commander said that after the crossbow bolts are used up, I'm afraid..."
Zhang San thought to himself, surely that's the case.
Kill wolf wouldn't be able to hold out for long either.