At this moment, Xiao Chang also knew that he was facing a hysterical lion. Fearing that the other party would fly into a rage and kill him, he quickly explained.
"This King has heard that the youths of the Great Gan Kingdom later joined the army enthusiastically, and each of them was brainwashed by Liang Xiao's idea of protecting the country. Their faith is no less than that of the core disciples of the Returning Spring Sect!!"
Xiao Che quickly added, "I heard that the soldiers of the Great Gan regard Liang Xiao and General Tian as their spiritual mentors, obey Liang Xiao's every word, and are fanatical when they see Liang Xiao. It's even more effective than the brainwashing methods of the Holy Cult..."
Alexander, who was originally enraged, was stunned. He put down Xiao Chang and gritted his teeth, "This Liang Xiao can write 'Rebuttal to the Returning Spring Sect,' and indeed has the ability to brainwash soldiers. I apologize, I was impulsive just now!"
Xiao Chang patted the dust off his body, gave Alexander a sideways glance, and said in a deep voice, "This King has always valued talented people. Marshal Alexander, this must not happen again!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Chang and Xiao Che's guards surrounded them, fearing that they would be humiliated by Alexander again.
They also knew that the blond-haired, blue-eyed marshal before them was not someone they could afford to offend. Xiao Chang and Xiao Che had simply chosen to be tolerant for the sake of the bigger picture.
When the two of them ruled Jiaozhou, even a maid spilling tea would be sent to prison, subjected to inhuman torture by their subordinates, and eventually, people would find that the maid had disappeared.
But at this moment, because of the Marquis of An of the Great Gan, they endured and united!
"Cavalry cannot be deployed here. We must divert the cavalry to the east to stop the enemy from pursuing our reinforcements!"
After Alexander calmed down, he immediately gave the order.
The cavalry, as if granted a general amnesty, rushed to the east to intercept Zhuo Ying's army.
"Report! Marshal Jian Bei has ordered Young Master Jin Pao to lead twenty thousand troops to reinforce us!"
The messenger's news finally brought some relief to the three commanders, who then showed joy.
"Jian Bei still sees things clearly..." Xiao Chang muttered, then blushed.
Seeing things clearly?
Alexander's face turned even uglier, but he knew he was in the wrong and didn't pursue the matter.
The two sides of the battlefield were in a brief stalemate, approaching a truce.
The Jiaozhou allied forces could not break through the Great Gan soldiers' shield wall, and apart from the front-row heavy shield soldiers who could barely maintain their formation, the spearmen and crossbowmen had almost all been lost. The crossbowmen in the rear, seeing the tragic scene ahead, even dared not come forward...
"How many casualties have we suffered?" Alexander asked urgently.
"Reporting to the Marshal, at least eighteen thousand, not including the cavalry losses..." the messenger replied weakly.
Alexander almost fainted.
Eighteen thousand soldiers lost in one hour!
If not for their strict military discipline, any ordinary army would have retreated long ago!
They were fighting to the death now purely because of their numerical advantage, coupled with the watchful eyes of the disciplinary troops.
If the cavalry were included, the losses might exceed twenty thousand!
"How many casualties has the enemy suffered?" Xiao Chang asked urgently.
"Probably less than a thousand..." the messenger replied fearfully.
The scene fell into a shocking silence.
A casualty ratio of at least one to twenty?
Alexander's face turned ashen, and he placed his right hand on the sword at his waist.
"Swish!"
To everyone's shock, the messenger was beheaded by Alexander.
"Sowing discord among the troops, deserved death!"
"This..." Xiao Chang and others exchanged glances.
The messenger had simply become a tragic scapegoat and a punching bag.
Seeing the messenger's tragic death, the messengers and runners in the distance were all terrified, their legs trembling.
Was this still a place where one could report military intelligence truthfully?
All the messengers and runners were forced to rack their brains to think of countermeasures, fearing they would become the next victim of Alexander's sword.
"Marshal Alexander, how can you beheading a messenger on the battlefield!?" Facing such a situation, Xiao Che finally became angry.
Alexander also quickly realized that he had been impulsive and made a grave mistake. He sighed, "The trebuchets are all wiped out. You command the troops, Brother Jin Pao."
Xiao Che merely nodded indifferently, took the banner, and comforted the messengers and runners.
The soldiers responsible for relaying messages finally breathed a sigh of relief, acting meekly, but still worried that Alexander would ignore Xiao Che and kill them directly.
They could clearly see that Alexander was now a lion that could devour people at any moment.
"Marshal! Scouts report from the east that a troop of enemy soldiers is returning from the mountain pass!"
Liang Xiao was observing the eastern movements from a high position. As he heard the intelligence, he coincidentally spotted figures in the distance.
Just in case, Liang Xiao ordered the shadow guards around the Shenwu Cannon to remain on standby for the next round of firing.
"Report! Ten thousand troops from Luzhou have left the city, carrying Huihui cannons and are also on their way to reinforce us!"
The Great Gan soldiers who received the news were not surprised or worried.
They had already discovered that the enemy's main forces were almost all here and at the eastern mountain pass, clearly determined to annihilate them.
At this time, Luzhou only needed to maintain its regular city defense forces. The more reinforcements from both sides, the better.
The enemy's offensive slowed down significantly, and the Great Gan soldiers were able to catch their breath.
Especially the archers, who stood by and stretched their muscles.
Continuous volleys were too exhausting for their arms, so they had to conserve their energy and be ready for a second round of tough battle at any time.
Liang Xiao noticed that the Tianri cavalry had disappeared from the battlefield and immediately ordered Zuo Wuji to lead five thousand well-rested Great Gan cavalry, leaving behind most of their rations and quivers, to reinforce Zhuo Ying.
"General Zhuo will surely send troops to reinforce us once he detects the enemy's movements. Your objective is to sandwich the enemy with him, and ideally, heavily damage the enemy's cavalry."
"General! The enemy is mobilizing troops to reinforce!"
Zhuo Ying, who was defending the mountain pass, also received news of the enemy and hurried to ask the scouts for details.
"The enemy's main forces are all rushing to the Marshal's position, numbering close to a hundred thousand!"
Scouts from the rear reported similar intelligence, and Zhuo Ying then made up his mind.
"Our twenty thousand troops are enough to hold the mountain pass!"
So Zhuo Ying gathered twenty thousand men and led them personally to reinforce Liang Xiao.
Jian Bei, who had remained to contain the twenty thousand Jiaozhou troops at the mountain pass, immediately dispatched his troops to intercept.
Zhuo Ying was not angry but pleased. He immediately rallied all the troops at the mountain pass to reinforce, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle here.
However, this Jiaozhou mountain assault force did not have so many heavy shields and heavy armor. Facing the Great Gan bows and crossbows, they were constantly pushed back, leaving behind thousands of corpses.
Just as Zhuo Ying was preparing to divide his forces and advance, the cavalry of the Jiaozhou allied forces arrived and harassed and contained them from both flanks.
"This is the Tianri cavalry?"
Upon discovering the enemy's cavalry moving swiftly and containing their forces from all sides, Zhuo Ying narrowed his eyes. He mobilized longbows and Great Gan soldiers to the flanks to curb the enemy's approach. The forty thousand troops advanced steadily, showing an unstoppable momentum.
"Why has the enemy changed from holding the mountain pass to abandoning it? Have they seen through our deployment?"
Jian Bei, who was commanding his troops, was full of doubt, but facing Zhuo Ying's troops, who were not hindered by cavalry, he could only choose to fight and retreat, slowing down Zhuo Ying's advance. Although they suffered considerable casualties, the effect was indeed significant.