"Sin will be defeated, sin will be completely defeated. Lord, sin will be incompetent, sin will be incompetent."

Cao Wenzhao knelt in front of Sun Chengzong and kept crying.

Sun Chengzong looked at Cao Wenzhao who was kneeling in front of him and frowned tightly.

I saw that Cao Wenzhao's armor was covered with blood, and helmet on his head was running away. His hair was extremely messy and covered with dried blood.

"What the hell is going on? How could you lose so quickly?" Sun Chengzong asked.

Sun Chengzong really did not expect Cao Wenzhao to be defeated so quickly and miserably.

"Sir, is this true..." Cao Wenzhao sobbed and told the details of the matter.

While listening to Cao Wenzhao's voice, Sun Chengzong kept wandering in front of Cao Wenzhao.

After a long time, Sun Chengzong asked, "You mean, the Zhao thief's artillery density is not high? In other words, the Zhao thief guarding that area is not large in number?"

"Sir, although Zhao Zhe's artillery is not dense, their weapons are really powerful. From the beginning of the attack by General Sin, to the end, it took less than an hour in between, and less than an hour in the middle of the attack by General Sin, the Sin was defeated.

The Zhao bandits had no troops and even reinforcements, so they defeated us." Cao Wenzhao said in a sarcastic voice.

"They did not pursue you, they just defeated you. This is not the style of Zhao thief. According to the information he had learned before, if Zhao Wen defeated the imperial court's troops, he would send troops to chase him.

Why is it different this time? Although the mountains are high and dense, it is difficult to pursue, but after you are defeated by them, they did not pursue them. This is abnormal, this is really abnormal.

Before you defeated you, they did not enter the mountain to attack, which was reasonable. However, you all failed, and they had no reason not to chase and kill? After all, it is much easier to chase and kill soldiers than to attack soldiers who did not defeat them in the mountain to attack soldiers.

Their lack of reinforcements means that even if there are no reinforcements, they are absolutely sure to defeat you. However, it is a bit unreasonable not to send troops to chase you. At least you should do it and force you to flee, which will not leave you time to gather your troops."

Sun Chengzong frowned tightly and kept muttering.

Although Sun Chengzong had no Zhao Wen fight before, based on the previous situation.

Every time Zhao Wen defeated the imperial court's troops, he would send a large number of soldiers to pursue and suppress, no matter where he was.

However, this time, after Cao Wenzhao's troops were defeated, the troops guarding outside did not pursue, and even had no desire to pursue. It was really abnormal for Sun Chengzong.

Although Sun Chengzong was behind Cao Wenzhao, this was not a reason not to pursue.

Entering the mountain to encircle and suppressing the defeated soldiers are two different concepts. Going into the mountain to pursue the defeated soldiers is much simpler and easier than entering the mountain to encircle and suppress the defeated soldiers.

"Have you figured out the number of enemy troops?" Sun Chengzong asked again.

Cao Wenzhao shook his head, "Sir, I haven't figured out the number of enemy troops. We can't even rush up, we can't figure out the number of enemy troops at all."

When Sun Chengzong heard this, he fell into deep thought.

After a long time, Sun Chengzong said quietly: "I guess the number of bandit soldiers you encountered is not large. If there are many defenders, they will definitely pursue them.

Although the Zhao thief did not send troops into the mountains to attack us before, you were already defeated and there was no reason not to chase you.

Even if I am behind me, this is not a reason for them not to chase you. Even if they don’t chase you, at least a soldier should be sent to chase you along the route of your escape, but the defenders outside did not do this."

"My sir means there are not many defenders outside?" Cao Wenzhao was slightly stunned and looked at Sun Chengzong.

"Yes, there will definitely not be many defenders outside. The road you are taking is the widest road from Zhuolu Mountain. There are not many defenders on this road, which means that there are not many defenders at other exits." Sun Chengzong half-squinted his eyes and analyzed calmly.

"But sir, even if there are not many, we can't rush out. Zhao Zhe's weapons are really amazing, too powerful. Even if there are no cannons, just the terrifying musket can defeat us.

When my subordinates faced those muskets, they didn't even have the ability to resist." Cao Wenzhao looked scared.

At this time, Cao Wenzhao was already scared by the weapons of the defenders. It was the first time he had seen such a terrifying weapon after fighting for so many years.

"Let's do this, you go down and recover from your injuries first. All this is not your fault." Sun Chengzong said.

Sun Chengzong did not punish Cao Wenzhao at this time, after all, it was really not for Cao Wenzhao to blame all this.

After Cao Wenzhao left, Sun Chengzong asked all officers from more than a thousand households in the general to gather.

When these people were standing in the entire tent, Sun Chengzong stood in front and said, "I asked General Cao to lead 5,000 troops out to test the bandits. Although General Cao failed, I have figured out something.

When General Cao failed, the Zhao bandits did not pursue him. Before, the Zhao bandits' troops did not enter the mountains to encircle and suppress him. I could still understand that General Cao's troops had already been defeated, so why didn't Zhao bandits' troops pursue him?

Why don’t they pursue? I think it must be because their troops are insufficient. If they send troops to pursue them, their defensive power will definitely be insufficient."

Sun Chengzong's voice echoed in the tent, and the officers under his command looked at him quietly.

"There is a good thing for us to have insufficient soldiers and horses. We can keep tempting and pulling Zhao's soldiers and horses, and attracting Zhao's soldiers into the mountains.

If the Zhao bandits and soldiers in some place cannot withstand this temptation, they will definitely go into the mountains to pursue them. In this way, we can take the opportunity to break through their defense.

The number of defenders arranged by the Zhao bandits outside Zhuolu Mountain is not large, and the number of soldiers defending is not large. As long as we find a way to attract some of the Zhao bandits' troops into the mountain, we will definitely be able to break through the Zhao bandits' defense line and approach the city of Xuanzhen.

Now, I order..."

Sun Chengzong looked around for a while and kept giving orders.

Sun Chengzong's order was to pull out some of the soldiers and horses in his hands and divide them into several small parts, which broke through from each exit.

When breaking through, try to attract the troops arranged by Zhao Wen outside Zhuolu Mountain to the forest as much as possible.

Once the defenders from somewhere are attracted, Sun Chengzong will lead the remaining troops and horses to rush directly from this place.

"Do you understand?" Sun Chengzong looked at the officers and asked loudly.

"We understand!" The officers in the tent replied loudly.

Sun Chengzong nodded, "Since that's the case, you should go down now and start the march according to the instructions of our officers. As for those who have not been selected by our officers, stay here and wait with us."

Under the order of Sun Chengzong, the generals selected by Sun Chengzong rushed out of the tent and came to the garrison of their own troops.

After a brief arrangement, these soldiers began to move toward the north, northwest and northeast directions of Zhuolu Mountain.

On the next day, almost all the defenders arranged by Zhang Dong outside Zhuolu Mountain were attacked by troops sent by Sun Chengzong.

Zhang Dong also quickly learned the news. He stood on a small hill and looked at Zhuolu Mountain in front of him with a calm expression.

"Sun Chengzong is indeed well-known. In the past few days, almost all the soldiers and horses I arranged outside Zhuolu Mountain have been attacked. It seems that Sun Chengzong is going to take real action." Zhang Dong said with a calm expression.

"Sir, now that Sun Chengzong has launched a full-scale attack, should we rush in? Eliminate Sun Chengzong and others?" The company commander of Zhang Dong's guard company stood behind Zhang Dong, looking eager to try.

"Haha!" Zhang Dong chuckled, "Why are you going in? The mountains are high and the roads are dangerous, and we don't have many people in our hands, how many people can we chase after them in the mountains? If this is the case, it's better to stay quietly outside Zhuolu Mountain and wait for them to come out slowly.

Anyway, they can't break through our defense line, so there is no need for us to rush into the mountains like this and fight against Sun Chengzong."

Zhang Dong didn't want to fight with Sun Chengzong at all. The mountains were high and the road was dangerous, and there were insufficient manpower. Although his weapons were powerful, fighting with Sun Chengzong was indeed not a wise move.

"Besides, what if the troops from a certain line of defense rush in, and then Sun Chengzong seizes this opportunity and rush out from here, what should he do when he reaches that time?" Zhang Dong asked back.

"This..." The company commander of the guard company didn't know how to answer for a while.

"But sir, it's okay for our brothers from the Guards to do so. After all, he has made a lot of contributions to his majesty's battles, but these reserves are not necessarily the case.

They have been stationed in the local area all year round and have no chance to make meritorious contributions. Now that they see the credit is right in front of me, I am afraid that they will not be able to resist the temptation, ignore the military orders of the lord, and rush in with their men." The commander of the guard company said with a worried look on his face.

"What you said is not unreasonable. Let's give you an order to all the defenders, telling them that no one is allowed to enter the mountain. Even if Sun Chengzong's troops were defeated miserably, no one is allowed to enter.

Tell them that after the war is over, I will definitely go to His Majesty to ask for credit for them. If anyone ignores the military order, he will disobey the order on the battlefield and directly discuss it." Zhang Dong said in a cold voice.

"As for order!" The commander of the guard company saluted and then hurriedly arranged.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhang Dong's order reached the ears of all the defenders.

Outside a narrow passage in the northwest of Zhuolu Mountain, a battalion of reserve troops was stationed here.

Because the place is small and the roads are narrow, there are not many defenders here.

At the outermost part of the passage, these reserve soldiers set up two lines of defense. Because their weapons and equipment are not as good as the Guards, these people had to shrink their troops and hit firepower.

These reserve soldiers had just repelled an attack from Sun Chengzong's soldiers.

At the end of the defense line, there was a military tent. The reserve battalion commander Zhang Xiliang stood at the door of the tent, holding a military order that had just been sent.

"Good guy, I'm not allowed to go into the mountains to pursue you again and again. I really don't understand what Zhang Dong is thinking. Now, the weapons in our hands are many times stronger than Sun Chengzong. What are he afraid of?" Zhang Xiliang looked at the military newspaper in his hand and said with confusion.

"Sir, the attack we encountered today is too small. There are only one or two hundred enemies rushing over, and we were beaten away from afar. We have achieved too few results. Our defense is already relatively remote. If we stay here, we may not make much contribution after the war is over.

These guards are His Majesty’s treasures. They followed His Majesty to fight south and north and made many achievements. How could we compare these guards’ families to their wealth?

These achievements are nothing to the Guards, but they are different for us." A company commander under Zhang Xiliang said with dissatisfaction, full of complaints in his words.

Zhang Xiliang said: "How come I don't know what you said? But now that Your Majesty has appointed Zhang Dong as the person in charge of this war, we can only listen to him. If others don't let us pursue, we can't pursue him. Military orders are as high as a mountain."

"Zhang Dong is not as old as me, he is just lucky and has been with His Majesty for a long time. If I had joined the army as early as him, I wouldn't have been just a company commander in the reserve service now.

The reserve reserve, as the name suggests, is just reserved troops and nothing." The company commander kept complaining.

Yet, these reserves could not make much military achievements due to their identity restrictions. If there were no such war, they would have made up their minds.

But this time, God gave them the opportunity to make contributions. If they could seize this opportunity and make some contributions, it would be good for these soldiers.

But if you don't make any contribution to this war, it would be even more uncomfortable than not.

"You are suppressing all your complaints. Do you think I am willing to lie down here? I also want to rush over, but the military order is difficult. What can I do?

OK, shut up, stay here, don’t think about other things," Zhang Xiliang scolded.

The company commander had no choice but to return to the defense line.

Zhang Xiliang walked to a hillside behind the defense line, and he held up his telescope and looked ahead.

After a long time, he put down the telescope in his hand and sighed: "Grandma, I encountered an attack in the end of the day. What else can I make of this? I'm really a ghost!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier of about four hundred men appeared in front of the defense line.

Zhang Xiliang held up the telescope and saw the soldiers coming over, a hint of excitement appeared on his face.
Chapter completed!