Chapter 6799 Endgame

Chapter 6799 Endgame
Ardashir had already withdrawn the front line and started to delay. His original idea was to wait for the arrival of his own reinforcements and then push Xu Huang and others out in one go. Unexpectedly, his own reinforcements have not arrived yet, but the news of the fall of the city in the rear has already been passed on.

If it was just a city, it would be fine, and it could be said that it was an accident and the Han army succeeded in deceiving the city. But now the seals of the two counties have been sent to Ardashir. With Ardashir's vision, he naturally understood that these two sets of seals were real.

But precisely because it is true, it makes people more desperate.

How many Han troops have crossed the blockade of the mountain pass northwest of Kabul and entered Kabul, and how many are now taking advantage of the heavy rain to attack the city in their own core area? Just thinking about it, Ardashir couldn't help but feel despair.

"Bakza, command the Undead Guards to cover the rear and retreat." Ardashir was extremely silent in the cold rain. He thought for just a few seconds and made up his mind. It was impossible to continue fighting. It was important to block the Han army at the western pass of Kabul, but since a large number of Han troops had already entered the Kabul Valley, it was meaningless to continue blocking it here.

Even though Ardashir could understand that the Han army sent these two seals to increase pressure on him, which also showed that the strength of the Han army was not that strong, but this was an open conspiracy. The other party could capture two county towns, and he could not gamble whether the other party could capture the Kabul County City.

Considering that Gorgan, Fares and others would definitely rescue the northwest mountain pass of Kabul and the captured county town after receiving the news, if there was a mistake and the Han army led the main force to attack the Kabul county town and captured it, then everything Ardashir had done for so many years would be in vain.

Therefore, for Ardashir, it is meaningless to continue fighting Xu Huang here when he cannot determine the size of the Han army in the rear. Even if he annihilates Xu Huang, it will be meaningless as long as he does not deal with the Han army that has penetrated deep into the Kabul Valley.

From a strategic perspective, it was no longer advisable to continue fighting Xu Huang to the death, risking both sides suffering losses and the possibility of being attacked from both sides. This was a wrong step and he underestimated the size of the Han army in the Kabul Valley. Ardashir was likely to be defeated directly.

They retreated and reunited with Gorgan and others, and then dealt with the matter further. Considering the loss of Kabul's greatest defense, which was the northwest mountain road, it would be difficult for Ardashir to take the absolute initiative as before and suppress Cao at any time. The entire battle situation was completely reversed.

In other words, the former has a high probability of dying on the spot, while the latter is like cutting flesh with a blunt knife, but will not cause sudden death, and there may be hope of a comeback in the future.

Even though this hope is quite slim, given the current situation, Ardashir has no choice but to choose the latter.

"General!" After receiving the news, Nihawin looked at Ardashir with an expression of disbelief. Although this guy had various problems, he had really learned military tactics and strategies. In his opinion, there was no point in retreating at this time. The other party was fighting for their lives, but the worst that could happen was that both sides would suffer losses. If they retreated now, then what were they here for?

"There is a fire in the rear." Ardashir handed both sets of seals to Nihawin, who threw the seals aside without even looking at them.

"Even if there is a fire in the rear, what can it do? In the current situation, even if the Han army sends 20,000 soldiers, what results can they achieve in conquering Kabul? It is raining heavily now. The Han army is also human. The time their food and supplies can support is limited. Their mobility in the rain is limited. They can conquer two or three. What can it do!" Nihawen shouted loudly to Ardashir, "We are basically old soldiers of the Parthian War. What can it do even if it is a letter from home?"

Nihawin's idea was very cruel, that is, to let the Han army in the rear attack the city. They would block this place tightly and push Xu Huang out. After blocking the northwest entrance, they would gather all the officers under Ardashir to catch the Han army entering the Kabul Valley in a trap!
"Cao's strength is very strong. I have seen it today. Every squad leader is as strong as our top centurions. There is no doubt that this is Cao's trump card. As long as we can survive this wave, will Cao have a second wave?" Nihawen said loudly to Ardashir, "If he can really have a second wave, then what are we holding on to!"

Nihawen is a pure-blooded noble, the kind of noble who does not treat the lower classes as human beings, so he can think very cruelly in the face of this situation, but precisely because of this cruelty, he sees it very clearly - the Han Dynasty is forcing them to return, which shows that the Han army is very strong, but not to the point of crushing. In this case, why not fight, they also have reinforcements!
"Retreat. If we completely lose the support of the people, we won't even be able to stand firm in Kabul." Ardashir said with a sigh, "I know what you mean. Since the enemy is attacking the city, they will definitely not be able to come here in a short time. We just need to fight the Han army here. When they realize that we are not retreating and attack us from both sides, we can only hold out for a while at most. Gorgan and his men will come. At that time, if we concentrate all our strength, we may be able to annihilate the Han army."

"Then why do we have to retreat?" Nihawen questioned Ardashir. He was willing to follow Ardashir because Ardashir had a glimmer of hope and because Ardashir was indeed a commander with great talent and strategy who could lead them out of the predicament. But what was the choice now? It was like cutting the flesh with a blunt knife and then bleeding!
"Because the Han army that enters the Kabul Valley may not all come to attack us. Once we choose to continue the stalemate here, they only need to divide half of their troops to cause sabotage. In this heavy rain, if they randomly blow up the mountains and block the river..." Ardashir said with some helplessness. In this situation, the damage caused by a sabotage team is too great.

Especially since the main force of the Han army attacked them from the front and back, Gorgan and others had to lead the main force to rescue them. After the defense of the entire Kabul Valley was completely empty, the damage caused by this group of saboteurs would not completely destroy Ardashir, but it would not be far off.

"But if we can't repel this group of people here and force them to retreat to the mountain road, we will lose the initiative later, and the war will be launched in the area we control. Will the losses be smaller than now?" Nihawen asked Ardashir loudly, and then sighed softly, "General, we can't retreat. Let's fight. Even if we suffer heavy losses in the rear, at least we still hold the whole Kabul. In the future, as long as we block this place and find the way the enemy came in, we still have hope."

Nihawin did not say the rest, but Ardashir knew it very well. He knew what Nihawin meant. If they retreated like this, and the Han army controlled the northwest mountain road, then it would only be a matter of time before they were defeated, unless Ardashir could retake the northwest mountain pass of Kabul. The problem was that the Han army had sacrificed so many talents to seize this strategic location, would they give it back so easily?
"Retreat." Ardashir said bitterly. If the Han army destroyed all the people's livelihood in this heavy rain, how could he continue to gain a foothold in Kabul? Relying on the Parthians in his hands? What a joke, there are only a few of them!
Nihawin was extremely angry, but finally he sighed and said no more. He led the cavalry and Ardashir, who had suffered heavy losses, to retreat quickly. He could not convince Ardashir. Even though he believed that his choice was correct, he could not change Ardashir's mind.

As most of the Undead Guards at the rear were killed, Xu Huang finally felt relieved. They had won. Although he didn't know how Barak had done it, they had indeed won. They had successfully captured the northwest entrance of the Kabul Pass and would never have to face that terrible terrain again.

"We've taken it." Cao Ang shivered as he looked at the suddenly open valley. He didn't feel cold when he was fighting before, but after the war stopped, he suddenly felt the biting chill.

"Order all soldiers to drink ginger and sugar water to ward off the cold, and take rock sugar. After quickly cleaning the battlefield, rush to Shakardala County at full speed." Xu Huang looked at his own side which had also suffered heavy losses, but did not dare to delay. He knew very well that the current situation was not yet stable. Even though they were only one step away from victory, in order to reap the fruits of victory, they had to reunite with Barak. Only after Xiahou Yuan and others successfully led 40,000 regular soldiers to arrive here would it be considered a complete success.

"General, send a letter to General Xiahou Miaocai as soon as possible, asking him to lead the main force to Kabul as quickly as possible. Then it will be time to reap the rewards." Xu Huang took a deep breath, suppressed the unnecessary thoughts in his mind, turned his head and told Cao Ang not to get excited. The more so at this time, the more cautious he should be.

"Order Le Jin to lead a thousand shield guards to guard the mountain pass. After the others have finished their purge, follow me to Shakeldala County." After Xu Huang gave his instructions to Cao Ang, he quickly issued a new order. The northwest entrance of Kabul must be blocked. This is related to whether Xiahou Yuan and others can arrive. Whether Xiahou Yuan and others can arrive is related to the final outcome of this battle.

If Ardashir's main force was gathered together, it would indeed be able to kill all of the nearly 10,000 backbones led by Xu Huang and Barak, but it would be absolutely impossible to annihilate the nearly 50,000 main forces of the Han army after they regrouped. Therefore, in order to prevent Ardashir from making a surprise attack, a main force must be left behind in the mountain road northwest of Kabul to ensure the entry and exit of subsequent reinforcements of the Han army.

In Xu Huang's opinion, the only person suitable for this task was Le Jin. As for giving all the remaining 1,000 core shield guards to Le Jin, leaving no one for himself, or even further diluting his own military strength, Xu Huang didn't care at all.

At this point in the war, the real killer move is not these core elite troops, but the size of the follow-up troops. They only need to join forces with Barak and defend the county of Shakeldara to give the Han Dynasty a strategic fulcrum inside the Kabul Valley and firmly control the imports and exports of Kabul. Then victory is only a matter of time.

Xu Huang never expected a quick victory. For him, as long as he could gain a foothold in Kabul, everything would be easy afterwards. So now Xu Huang, who only had less than 5,000 men left, decisively sent out 1,000 backbone troops to station in the mountain road northwest of Kabul.

"We must defend this place at all costs. Even if Ardashir makes a surprise attack, we must hold on. We must rely on the terrain here to delay the attack until the main force of our army arrives." Xu Huang very solemnly assigned this task to Le Jin.

"Even if I die here, I will not let Ardashir take back the mountain pass." Le Jin said with a grim expression. The situation has come to this point. For the officers under Cao Ang and the soldiers under Cao, the light of hope has appeared, and their fighting spirit is three times stronger than before.

"Okay." Xu Huang nodded and quickly assigned the shield guard to Le Jin. After he finished the inventory and cleanup on his side, he assigned more than 300 people to send the wounded into the cliff passage, on the one hand to shelter from the rain, and on the other hand to receive treatment. As long as these wounded were treated well, half of them could recover.

"You go first, we'll be here in a while." Zhang Huang, who was carried into the cliff passage, said to Shi Gai and others. Even for truly top veterans like them, it is difficult to guarantee that they will be safe on such a battlefield. For example, Zhang Huang is now missing an arm.

"Will you be here in a while?" Huang Xiu asked Zhang Huang while spitting out blood. He also found it outrageous that after his fifty years of accumulation was broken, he was not killed by Ardashir. He had to say that Zhang Ping, this little brother, was still very reliable. He saved his life. In addition, with the super resistance and recovery ability brought by this young body, although Huang Xiu felt uncomfortable, he was okay.

"It's just a broken arm. Just wait for me to find it." Zhang Huang said with a wry smile, "The will to transcend has a strong speciality. After I pick it up, I can connect it in no time. It's not a big problem. I was just careless this time. You should also be careful. In addition to the normal Holy Death Knights, there are some guys with the same number of smelting layers as us. I was careless for a moment and got fooled."

It was only Zhang Huang. If anyone else had been tricked, they would have died. After all, they were the carriers of inheritance. Although it was not too difficult for Zhu Tao to kill the opponent, this kind of thing was terribly strong in both combat power and survivability. Especially when it had the initiative, even a person of Zhu Tao's level could have been killed. Zhang Huang was unlucky enough to have encountered one as well. He was ambushed by the opponent and had one arm broken. If it weren't for the fact that all his combat power was at the level of will, he would have been killed.

"Guangyuan, are you okay?" Baxiu looked at Guangyuan and asked. Guangyuan had seven or eight big wounds on his body. Even if Baxiu had such wounds, he could not guarantee that he would survive.

"Do I look okay?" Guangyuan said weakly with a dark face, "But I'm not dead. I'm still breathing. Give me some sugar or something so I can replenish my energy."

Guangyuan had no idea that he was a demon god and still considered himself a human being, so this injury had a significant impact on him. He felt much weaker, but fortunately he didn't think this injury would kill him. He just felt that he needed to recuperate for a while.

Seeing that Guangyuan could still talk like this, Baxiu felt that the problem was not serious and that he would not die. He felt much more relieved. Although death was normal at their age, there was nothing to be sad about. After all, seventy years is a rare age for people to live to this age, and there was really nothing to regret.

"Brother Zhu and Brother Peng are both dead?" Guang Yuan swallowed a few pieces of candy to supply energy to his cells. His condition was obviously better. He looked around and asked with some doubt.

"Well, Brother Zhu killed a living inheritor, and Brother Peng could do nothing. Xu Yuan was seriously injured by a strong man on the opposite side. He sent Xu Yuan out and got trapped himself. We didn't have time to rescue him. The Holy Death Knight was really powerful." Bashu said very calmly. He was not angry because the brother he had known for decades died. After all, when they came, they knew that Zhu Tao would definitely die here. As for Peng Hong, it was inevitable.

"The Holy Death Knights are only few in number, but they are very powerful in other aspects. How many have you killed?" Guang Yuan let out a breath and looked at Bashu, who didn't seem to have any injuries but spoke with a gasp. Then he realized that the other party was actually seriously injured.

"Four. The fourth one almost killed me. To be honest, if my heart muscle had not been tempered and was extremely strong, my heart would have been broken by the last blow. Fortunately, my heart is the strongest muscle in my whole body." Bashu said with lingering fear. If he could live, he still wanted to live. After all, his oath could last for another three years. Besides, he had a son and a grandson and a happy family. If he could survive, he still wanted to be with his children and grandchildren.

"I didn't kill any of them." Huang Xiu said speechlessly.

"Although you didn't kill anyone, it's all thanks to you. Without you, it would have been a problem if Ardashir had really stood up." Zhang Huang, who had fallen to the ground, said with some fatigue. Although he had the willpower to control his body's condition, he still felt dizzy from losing too much blood.

"Found it, Uncle Zhang, your arm. I brought it back for you, but it has been away from your body for too long. Is it really okay?" Ma Pin limped back.

"Stop talking nonsense and just give it to me. Where's Feng Ke?" Zhang Huang said to Ma Pin in a bad mood. He took his arm and pressed it directly, using his willpower to activate it. After the docking was completed, the arm was installed. Of course, this rough installation had big problems, but they also had professional treatment and first aid personnel Feng Ke, so they could understand the cellular-level linkage.

I failed to get up. Speaking of that activity, you guys just take care of it and don't make the author suffer too much.