Chapter 76: Life and Death, Decided in One Move

East of the Altai Mountains, Northeast Pass.

It was one of the passes in the Altai Mountains most suitable for a large army to cross, and also the place where Xiao Simo’s main army attacked.

At this time, it was already dark, and the moon was above the mountaintops. However, a disgusting and strong smell of blood pervaded the valley, like an invisible mist, lingering for a long time.

On the ground, broken weapons were scattered messily, broken blades and residual spears crisscrossed, some deeply inserted into the soil.

The dark red blood clots coagulated on them emitted a cold and hard luster under the moonlight, recounting the fierce fighting of the past.

Under the shroud of moonlight, Naiman figures could still be seen occasionally in the valley and on the peaks on both sides.

And east of the valley was the Naiman camp.

Like a giant beast hibernating in the mountains and forests, stretching for several li.

Once the Northern Border Army was found attacking the valley, the soldiers in the camp would rush out quickly to support the valley.

The Naimans utilized the geographical advantage to make this Altai Mountains area almost impregnable.

However, a heavy atmosphere pervaded the camp at this time.

Low wails of Naiman soldiers could be heard from time to time.

“What the hell is Xiao Simo doing?”

“He was turtling up a few days ago, but the attacks these past two days have become so fierce again.”

In the camp for the wounded, Naiman Prince Kuchlug walked out of a wounded soldiers’ tent, his face becoming very ugly.

For a whole day, the Northern Border Army and the Naimans fought fiercely for the peaks on both sides of the valley.

During this process, Kuchlug personally supervised the battle and successfully repelled the Northern Border Army before dark.

But in this one day, the Naimans also suffered considerable casualties.

Throughout the wounded camp, miserable screams were everywhere, and many soldiers even needed amputation to survive.

This made the young Prince Kuchlug’s heart very heavy.

“Perhaps Xiao Simo’s reinforcements have arrived,” the old Naiman general Koke Xue’wu said in a deep voice.

But little did they know, Xiao Simo was doing this to cover for Li Xiao, attracting the Naiman forces to this pass as much as possible.

“Xiao Simo is dragging this out with us!”

“There isn’t any deep hatred either,” Kuchlug said angrily.

Wasn’t it just supporting the Karluk rebellion behind the scenes?

Anyway, it didn’t succeed, yet Xiao Simo was still relentless; simply excessive.

“When will our reinforcements arrive?” Kuchlug asked.

Currently, there were only about fifteen thousand Naimans in the Altai Mountains. Although they occupied favorable terrain, they couldn’t afford to drag on for a long time either.

“Hard to say,” Koke Xue’wu shook his head.

To date, he still hadn’t received any news of reinforcements, and in fact, he had no hope for reinforcements in his heart.

The Naimans were known as the overlords of the Mongolian steppe, with over a hundred thousand tribesmen.

But their territory was also vast, and their forces were relatively dispersed, sometimes stretched to the limit.

Moreover, the Naimans didn’t only have Western Liao as an enemy. The Kerait tribe to the east was also a sworn enemy of the Naiman tribe, an equally powerful steppe overlord not inferior to the Naiman tribe.

The grudge between the two tribes traced back to the time of Kuchlug’s grandfather.

At that time, Wang Khan of the Kerait tribe had just ascended the throne, and people’s hearts were unstable. Seeing an opportunity, the Naiman tribe supported Wang Khan’s brother in an attempt to split the Kerait tribe.

Unfortunately, it didn’t succeed in the end. Instead, as soon as the old Khan of the Naiman tribe died, the Tayang Khan brothers split the Naiman tribe, which might not have been without Wang Khan’s planning.

Thus, the grudge between the two tribes was formed.

While fighting the Northern Border Army, the Naiman tribe had to increase troops on the eastern border to prevent the Kerait tribe from taking advantage of the emptiness.

“Dragging on with Xiao Simo in the Altai Mountains isn’t a solution; we still have to find a way to end the war as soon as possible,” Kuchlug said.

Suddenly, a thought popped up: “Maybe we can give them a night raid.”

Hearing this, the face of the old Naiman general Koke Xue’wu changed.

He hurriedly spoke to stop this young, aggressive, and whimsical prince.

“Your Highness, absolutely not.”

“Xiao Simo is the direct grandson of Xiao Wolila and well versed in Xiao Wolila’s art of war; he will absolutely not give us a chance for a night raid.”

“Maybe at this moment, he has already set up an ambush in the main camp, waiting for us to night raid.”

Koke Xue’wu dared not let Kuchlug command blindly; otherwise, he would become a modern Lian Po (famous general hindered by bad leadership).

A lifetime of fame ruined by a brat.

Seeing Koke Xue’wu disagree with his idea, Kuchlug had no choice.

After all, the other party was the commander of the army; he was just sent to the front to learn.

“Your Highness, although we can’t afford to drag this out, Xiao Simo can afford it even less in the Altai Mountains.”

“We just need to hold the pass. Before winter, Xiao Simo’s army will inevitably retreat to Yin Mountain,” Koke Xue’wu said in a deep voice.

He wasn’t purely a military general; he also studied Western Liao politics.

He heard that the relationship between Xiao Simo and the Western Liao Gurkhan wasn’t that harmonious.

Would Yelü Zhilugu watch helplessly as Xiao Simo established great merit and threatened his position?

“Alright!”

“General Koke Xue’wu is right; this is a prudent strategy,” Kuchlug nodded and said.

Although he wanted to show his military talent to gain greater power.

But winning over General Koke Xue’wu was equally important.

He had quite a few brothers too.

…

Just that evening, when the Northern Border Army withdrew from the Northeast Pass, the army led by Li Xiao entered from the Alai Ridge Pass and passed through smoothly.

“Finally out.”

When the towering peaks on both sides slowly disappeared and the view turned into undulating mountains again, Li Xiao breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Inside the Alai Ridge Pass, although the road was passable, the ground was full of rocks and difficult to walk on.

And they had to worry about dangers from the peaks on both sides constantly.

Although Li Xiao had sent people to scout in advance and the Naimans were not stationed here, this dangerous terrain still kept people on edge.

At this moment, Li Xiao could fully understand Deng Ai’s feelings when he led the army through the Yinping Trail back then.

“Life and death, decided in one move.”

Back then, Deng Ai rejoiced that Zhuge Liang was dead and no one in the Shu Kingdom paid attention to the Yinping Trail.

And now, Li Xiao rejoiced that no military strategist like Zhuge Liang was born among the Naimans.

“Hundred Households and Section Leaders of all divisions, count the number of people, set up camp.”

Watching more and more soldiers walking out of the valley, Li Xiao stood on his horse aside and ordered loudly.

Passing through the valley took a lot of time; it was getting dark.

They had to camp in the mountains tonight.

Soon, Li Xiao chose a relatively flat hill to camp, ordering soldiers not to light fires for cooking.

Instead, eat the mutton and dry rations they carried, and loud noise was forbidden.

After killing the chicken to scare the monkey before the valley, these soldiers were obviously much more ‘sensible’ and dared not violate military orders blatantly.

Li Xiao showed no mercy when he acted.

The mountains in the dark night were quiet, only the occasional cries of birds and beasts, and the huff huff breathing of warhorses could be heard.

Watching the soldiers set up tents and start eating on the ground, Li Xiao also took out a piece of jerky from the horse’s back.

Wrapping the sheepskin coat on his body tightly, he tore at it bite by bite.

“Where do we go next?” Dahu asked in a low voice beside him.

Li Xiao looked up at the position of the North Star and pointed in the opposite direction: “Go southwest.”

Although they had crossed the most critical Alai Ridge Pass, the Altai Mountains were a huge mountain range, an endless chain of mountains.

Li Xiao estimated he still had to walk in the mountains for several days!

In the following days, Li Xiao killed a few more army ruffians to deter the military heart.

But he could clearly feel that the atmosphere of the team had become different, increasingly oppressive.

Soldiers spoke less and less; everyone rode silently, following closely behind the person in front.

They didn’t know where they were going, even forgetting what they should do.

In their eyes, there were only endless mountains; crossing one after another, as if there was never an end.

This atmosphere of dead silence permeated the army, almost crushing people.

Li Xiao knew the soldiers were nearing their limit.

Even just a loud shout from someone might cause a camp mutiny in the entire army directly.

After all, they were just a motley crew temporarily assembled by Li Xiao, not true elites who had experienced iron and blood training.

On this day, when the sunlight was blocked by the peaks of the Altai Mountains, a scout suddenly came to report that a Naiman tribe was found ahead.

Li Xiao instantly perked up, ordered the army to rest on the spot, and went to check the situation with the scout and some men.

This was a valley, full of flowers and green grass, covered with low vegetation.

In the twilight, cattle and sheep gathered in groups under the drive of their owners’ whips, leisurely strolling towards home.

In the middle of the valley, tents were scattered sparsely. at a glance, there were several hundred tents, far apart from each other.

Children ran on the grass, women cooked dinner, and laughter filled the air everywhere.

Forming a sharp contrast with Li Xiao and the others, who had climbed mountains and crossed ridges all the way, travel-worn, clothes covered in mud.

Standing on the hillside, Li Xiao looked at this warm scene, wiped his rough face full of dead skin fiercely, but slowly smiled.

He turned to look at Dahu and the others who also looked tired, breathed a sigh of relief, and said: “Tonight, we can have a good rest.”

Most importantly, this army nearing its limit would not scatter.

(End of this chapter)