Chapter 755 – First Air Strike in the Wilderness
The chaotic battle in front of Guiping Pass ended with the Li Mu cavalry retreating.
After the battle, the battlefield was in tatters.
Using the spiral cavalry sneak attack tactic, Li Mu had successfully destroyed two P1 Type Cannons; this was the maximum he could do. As for the remaining six cannons, there was nothing he could do about them.
In this battle alone, he had lost four thousand cavalry.
Similarly, a full 2500 mountain barbarians would be forever buried in this land.
The spiral cavalry tactic was undoubtedly a suicidal tactic. For every 800 enemies you kill, you would lose one thousand of your own. Even so, Li Mu would be famous across the wilderness because of this battle.
Not for other reasons but simply because he had provided an idea for the wilderness armies to destroy cannons. There was finally a way to counter the Shanhai City cannons.
The prerequisite would be that one was willing to make sacrifices.
When the P1 Type Cannons showed their strength during the Battle of Xuanwu Pass, the Lords of the wilderness all felt a chill run down their spine.
Some people even said that with the existence of the P1 Type Cannon, any fortress in front of them was useless and could not block their advances.
The only way to win was to directly fight outside of the city. Conventional tactics like defending the city walls would be totally useless before the P1 Type Cannons.
Yanhuang Alliance, on the other hand, invested a lot of money into quickening their cannon technology research and development.
Now, Li Mu had given them all a different solution.
"Well played!" Han Xin could not help but clap toward Li Mu's ingenuity. His expression changed, and a light shone in his eyes, "But it will end here."
"Send the orders, continue firing!"
"Yes commander!"
'Hong! Hong! Hong!'
The cannon fire sounded once again, breaking out as they pelted Guiping Pass.
Weirdly, no matter how the cannons shot at them, there was no reaction from atop the city wall. Despite an entire half an hour of cannon fire, Guiping Pass remained totally silent.
"Commander, did the enemy forces retreat?" The deputy general asked.
He was obviously worried that the enemy had chosen the same tactic as the one at Xuanwu Pass.
Han Xin shook his head and said confidently, "That's impossible. Guiping Pass is the last barrier, and the moment they retreat, they would be giving up Guilin Prefecture."
"Then what should we do?"
"The enemy has obviously given up on city defense; they are ready to fight us inside the city. Send the orders for the cannons to aim into the pass and clear out everything. Use the 1st division as the vanguard with the 2nd division helping to attack. Remind them to be careful in case there's a trap."
Han Xin had a whole new understanding of Li Mu's craftiness. He only gave up the city wall defense because he had no choice, and it was a truly smart decision.
As they put it, one would only make gains if they were willing to give up something.
Furthermore, even if they fought inside the city, the Alliance Army still held the advantage.
Li Mu's plan was smart, but it was also relatively risky. The moment they did not defend well in the pass, the entire Guiping Pass might just fall just like that.
Leading the wolf into the room will expose one to the risk of getting eaten.
Reality proved that Li Mu had prepared heavily for this battle, no wonder he dared to spread those big words before the battle.
The moment the 1st division entered the stronghold, a shocking scene greeted them. Apart from the region near the city walls that were in ruins, every other area was modified into a concentration of traps.
The Alliance Army used the streets, houses, and other buildings as a foundation for modification, setting up numerous traps. Barricades and arrow towers were small matters. On the streets, there were massive holes and many hidden crossbows on the roofs.
Silently, many bowmen lay on the two sides of the streets.
If they really attacked like this, they would suffer heavy casualties.
"Men, report the situation to the commander." Liao Kai was not going to take such rash action.
"Yes general!"
When Han Xin received the news, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"Is there really a need to do that?"
Han Xin was speechless. How stubborn must one be to go so far?
The trap that Li Mu set up could only slow down their attacks, and it was only temporary. It could not change the outcome of the battle and obtain any decisive advantages.
The diplomatic attacks launched by Shanhai City had already caused the mental strength of both City-States to wane. Taking down Guiping Pass was just to send a signal and to increase the chips in their hands.
Who knew that Li Mu would be stubborn to such a level?
"Does he truly want to drag both armies into a total war?" Han Xin had nothing to say.
As a God General, Han Xin knew more than fighting wars. He knew how to think from a larger perspective. Hence, he knew the strategic goal for attacking the pass, so he was not going to make too heavy sacrifices for nothing.
"It seems like we can only use our ultimate card! Send down the order for the Flying Squad from Withered Flower Stronghold to lay waste to Guiping Pass early tomorrow."
"Yes commander!"
The purple magnetic ohlite that Ouyang Shuo wore could give birth to one blue and two green magnetic ohlite every month. The green magnetic ohlite could already lower the flying devices.
Since he had left Atlantis, Ouyang Shuo already had three blue and six magnetic ohlite. These were all used to create a Flying Squad.
When Zheng He led the voyage squadron back to Gilbratar Port, Ouyang Shuo had instructed him to purchase 12 flying devices from Gaia.
After the Battle of Red Cliff ended, these 12 were transported to a secret base in Lianzhou Basin. The Military Affairs Bureau had recruited the first batch of pilots to be trained in the air force base.
Two months had passed, and this Flying Squad could finally show themselves in the wilderness. Their first showing was chosen to be at the north border battlefield.
During the Battle of Xuanwu Pass, Han Xin had requested to borrow the Flying Squad. The Military Affairs Bureau considered the needs of the battle and agreed.
However, the battle had proceeded rather smoothly, so the Flying Squad did not need to show themselves.
At this moment, their time had finally arrived.
Before they reached the frontlines, Han Xin ordered the 1st and 2nd division to back out of the pass, officially signaling the end of the first day of battle.
That night, the 1st legion camped in the wilderness.
...
10th month, 19th day, morning.
Welcoming the morning sun, the defending soldiers who were still deep in sleep were woken up. Before they could even react, specially modified burning bombs were dropped from the skies and split apart.
These were a type of 'bomb' specially researched and developed by the No.7 Research Institute for the flying devices. Naturally, it could not be compared to the bombs in real life, but they were easy to carry.
A flying device could carry 10 of these and each one was enough to light up an entire building.
The Flying Squad formed from nine flying devices had thrown all their burning bombs into the pass in a short 10 minutes before returning.
After they returned to Withered Flower Stronghold to resupply, they launched their next round of attacks.
Although these bombs were not as powerful as the ones in real life, it was enough to burn barricades, arrow towers, wooden buildings, and more.
As they did not have any aiming tools, and the newly trained flying squad was not that good at this yet, this was all experience-based. Naturally, it was a total mess, and their bombs fell everywhere.
If a modern officer saw their display, all of them would be removed from their posts.
Even so, it was enough to terrify an ancient army like the Alliance Army. The psychological blow was unprecedented.
There were some lucky shots that caused the soldiers laying in ambush in some of the hay stacks to be burned.
Since such an attack method had never been used before, the entire alliance panicked. The flames were like stars, shining bright all over, a truly majestic sight.
"Extinguish the fire, quickly!"
A proper army instantly became a firefighting squad.
Li Mu patrolled the cities, and his face was scarily gloomy. He did not expect that apart from cannons, the enemy would have such an unheard of weapon.
This time, Li Mu had totally lost confidence in the battle.
Before the troops regained their composure, the second round of attacks arrived. This time, the Flying Squad was much more accurate.
The fire that had not been put out blazed once more.
When the Alliance Army soldiers saw this situation, they really wanted to cry.
These assaults happened three times. Soon, it was already noon.
The Flying Squad used this mission as a training exercise, with Guiping Pass as a live target. They threw down the flaming bombs and gave their enemies a nightmare.
The endless bombing crushed their mental strength.
To make matters worse, the fires grew stronger and stronger; it looked like it could not be extinguished. If they continued to stay here, they truly would perish.
"General, let's retreat!" The deputy general said carefully, "Our entire army might revolt if don't give the order."
In truth, the reason why the Alliance Army could hold on till now was because of Li Mu. It was his prestige that saved them from collapsing on the spot.
Even so, there was a limit to how long they could hold on.
Li Mu said bitterly, "I know. Let's retreat!"
Their loss was not a loss in battle.
As a result, he felt even more annoyed. Now, he truly felt how strong Shanhai City was, and it was not just a military gap.
A sense of helplessness rose up in his heart. He had spent so much effort to think of new tactics but all of that could not compare to one round of bombing.
Li Mu felt that after he went back, he needed to catch up on his knowledge.