111: dead end

The biggest danger is the siege engines and scaling ladders.

The Crusader soldiers have astonishing attack power. Once these soldiers rush onto the city wall, the defense system centered around ranged units will easily collapse!

Adjust the cannons to prioritize targeting these siege weapons!

Floating Turret should prioritize dealing with the Griffons in the sky!

The Griffons cannot be allowed to attack our artillery.

Li Dingbei sneered. All of Tongtian City's responses were within his expectations.

The trebuchets behind began to show their might, hurling stones onto the city wall.

But unexpectedly, for some reason, the accuracy of these trebuchets was extremely low today. Ninety percent of the shots missed completely, and many even accidentally hit their own siege engines.

Li Dingbei couldn't help but curse inwardly. These soldiers were truly lacking in training.

Unfortunately, he couldn't manage those soldiers, as the trebuchet units were directly under the control of the royal family.

Han Xin squinted, watching the enemy's trebuchets haphazardly bombarding here and there. He relaxed slightly, knowing that the Lord was right; the trebuchet and ballista units wouldn't seriously attack the city, they were just there to slack off.

It was only then that he mobilized the missile aircraft units, sending them out to attack the scaling ladders.

The scaling ladders were quickly smashed to pieces!

The official army's attack was obstructed.

The fighting continued until late at night, but Li Dingbei did not retreat. Instead, he launched rotating attacks!

The Great Qian Dynasty had a large population, and he decided not to give Tongtian City any opportunity.

Han Xin sighed. Once these people retreated, he could replenish the Floating Turret, but it was clear the enemy had also received some intelligence and wouldn't give Tongtian City any chance to buffer.

Then let's fight!

At night, torches and braziers were everywhere, illuminating the area in front of Yanmen Pass as if it were daytime.

Both sides went back and forth, fighting fiercely for three days and three nights.

When Han Xin was extremely tired, he would sit on the tower platform and take a short nap.

Although it was all within his expectations, Li Dingbei was still amazed at how incredibly tenacious this small city was!

If everything went normally, this kind of battle could last for at most seven more days, and then Han Xin would deploy a surprise force and initiate a second round of delaying tactics.

But the unexpected happened on the fourth day!

Scouts reported!

"Grand Commandant, the Barbarian army is on its way to reinforce. They are expected to reach the Ten Thousand Mountains in about a day!"

Li Dingbei nodded.

This was completely within his expectations.

Surrounding the point and attacking the reinforcements was his original plan; otherwise, he wouldn't have needed such a large army of 500,000. He had already set up an ambush in the mountains, and with a wave of his hand, the ambushing army began to move out.

Li Dingbei not only wanted to destroy Tongtian City but also intended to use Tongtian City as an opportunity to severely punish the Barbarians once more!

This way, when negotiating in the future, these Barbarians would lose all their leverage, and a large amount of rare resources would become his personal possessions.

As long as he possessed enough resources and was the leader of the eighteen feudal lords, the next step...

Li Dingbei's gaze penetrated the vast territory, looking towards the direction of the Empire's Great Capital.

He had absolutely no interest in the desolate land occupied by the Barbarians!

His great ambition burned fiercely.

And then something went wrong.

As expected, something went wrong with the official troops who went to set up the ambush.

The place where they intended to set up the ambush had various traps set! Then they were counter-ambushed. Realizing they had fallen into a trap, the official troops panicked.

In the midst of the chaos, overwhelming numbers of mechanical Wolves suddenly surged out from all directions.

Most of these official troops were archers, and having fallen into the trap, they were engaged in close combat by the mechanical Wolves, suffering heavy casualties instantly!

The Crusaders were greatly alarmed and quickly went to rescue them. With a drumbeat, a large number of bandits archers appeared on the mountaintops.

Arrows rained down instantly!

All thirty-six bandits groups were dispatched, starting to intercept and kill these Crusaders halfway.

Something even more terrifying happened.

The Barbarian troops, who were originally scheduled to arrive a day later, actually arrived early.

Of course, not all of them; the main army was still behind.

These were all Wolf Riders and mechanical units!

They suddenly accelerated and arrived!

The speed was too fast!

Standing on an Armored Vehicle, Hua Mulan commanded the vanguard of the mobile units, which had arrived!

After the official troops' archers were entangled by the mechanical Wolves, Hua Mulan waved her spear, and 200 fighter jets ferociously began attacking the battlefield from the flank.

Missiles roared, and there were flashes of fire everywhere!

Although the official troops had more numbers, the mountain paths were narrow. With such an impact, their formation instantly fell into disarray, and they began to flee in a panic.

People trampled on each other, people crowded together!

They themselves trampled countless dead.

In the chaos, the trebuchet and ballista units also suddenly lost control, bombing indiscriminately everywhere, and instead killed many official troops.

Li Dingbei was greatly alarmed!

"Beat the drums!"

Seeing that the time was right, Han Xin ordered the soldiers on the city wall to start beating the war drums. As soon as the war drums sounded, the city gate opened wide.

Flamethrower soldiers rushed out like a tide, starting fires everywhere.

The official troops were in complete disarray, now unable to even find the enemy.

Li Dingbei saw that the situation was bad!

The army was in chaos!

It had completely lost control.

He immediately ordered a retreat, planning to first withdraw from the Ten Thousand Mountains, reorganize, and then fight his way back.

Once the battlefield lost control and became chaotic, even though the official troops had a numerical advantage, they could no longer fight.

Li Dingbei directed the resistance while leading everyone to retreat.

He was furious inside!

How could the enemy be so cunning?

Turning a corner, there was a narrow, elongated path ahead. This was a good place for an ambush, but Li Dingbei had been prepared long ago and had already ambushed his own troops here, so he boldly fled back.

Just as they reached the middle of the mountain path, suddenly, a volley of rockets shot over from the surroundings. Various dry faggots had also been laid out on the path, and the entire mountain path instantly burst into flames.

Countless official troops were burned.

Li Dingbei was greatly shocked. Where were the official troops he had ambushed beforehand? How had they become enemy troops?

"Grand Commandant, as long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood. Hurry and leave! With your martial prowess, this fire cannot stop you. We will hold them off for you!"

Several sworn death soldiers desperately protected Li Dingbei as they fought their way out of the fiery valley.

Li Dingbei ran while weeping bitterly. How many official troops had died in this battle?

"Let's go! Hurry back to Wanqing City. There are still 200,000 troops there. These scattered remnants are just dispersed; tens of thousands will still escape back. Grand Commandant, do not be disheartened!"

His strategist tried to comfort him.

Li Dingbei rode his horse, stopped crying, and desperately fled towards the outside of the valley.

Suddenly, a drum sounded, and another ambushing force appeared.

Li Dingbei was panic-stricken. How could the enemy plan so perfectly, it was terrifying?

Suddenly, he saw that the flags opposite were those of Great Qian. His heart settled. It turned out to be his own reinforcements arriving.