Two days passed, and there were no more expressions on Liu Zongmin’s face.

The twenty passes at Tongyukou have been captured by the Later Jin Tartars, and there are still the last two passes left. Once all the passes are captured by the Later Jin Tartars, the gatehouse will directly face the crazy attack of the Later Jin Tartars.

Liu Zongmin knew very well that the most difficult thing to conquer the entire Tongguan was the gate tower. The gate tower was one of the most dangerous places in Tongguan. Because it built fortifications, it was typical that it was easy to defend and difficult to attack. If the Later Jin Tartars wanted to take down the gate tower, they would definitely pay a heavy price.

The battle at the eighteen passes lost more than 2,000 soldiers from the old camp, but the losses of the Later Jin Tartars were even more heavy. Liu Zongmin was a little confused. Why did the Later Jin Tartars, who had such a huge loss, not think about evacuating, but continued to attack without any life? This situation of the Later Jin Tartars was a heavy blow to Liu Zongmin, and he had endless dreams for the old camp soldiers under his command. If such an offensive situation continued, the Later Jin Tartars would always attack without any life, and Tongguan would eventually be captured by the Later Jin Tartars.

The huge gap in combat effectiveness is in front of you, and Liu Zongmin cannot change this point. Fortunately, the 5,000 old battalion soldiers led by him are all elites of the Dashun Army. Even if they face many unfavorable situations, they can still persist in fighting.

The five thousand old battalion soldiers suffered heavy casualties, with nearly half of the losses. They persisted for two days, which Liu Zongmin did not expect. According to his original idea, it would be great to be able to last for more than one day. As the battle continued, the old battalion soldiers were no longer afraid of the Later Jin Tartars. Even in the face of the attacks of the Later Jin Tartars, they dared to face them.

Wiping away the sweat from his forehead, Liu Zongmin spoke to the messenger beside him.

"You go and report to the emperor, I don't need help here. There may be half a day left. The Later Jin Tartars will take the Tongyukou and attack the gatehouse directly. If the last pass falls, we will defend on the spot, delaying the time when the Jin Tartars attack the gatehouse."

The messenger hesitated for a moment and looked at Liu Zongmin speaking.

"General, the emperor said that if Tongyukou cannot be kept, please lead all the soldiers back to the gatehouse..."

Liu Zongmin waved to the messenger.

"I understand. Go and report to the emperor that the gate tower is the most dangerous pass in Tongguan. Even if it cannot be defended, it is necessary to let the Later Jin Tartars die more. In this way, even if they take Tongguan, it will take a certain amount of time to repair it. It is impossible to attack Xi'an Fucheng immediately. We can also gain enough time to defend Xi'an Fucheng."

After the messenger left, Liu Zongmin looked at the pass not far ahead and spoke to the deputy general beside him.

"The terrain of this pass is average, there is not much dangerous place, and there is a small road in the mountains. If the Later Jin Tartars are discovered and they will surround the small road, the brothers guarding the pass cannot evacuate in time, so two hundred brothers must be sent to guard the exit of the small road. Once the shadow of the Later Jin Tartars is found, they will try their best to block them and report immediately."

The deputy general quickly clasped his fists at Liu Zongmin.

"General, I personally led two hundred brothers to guard the exit of the path, and I will never let the Jin Tartars come from a small distance."

Liu Zongmin looked at the deputy general and widened his eyes.

"You don't understand what I mean. We don't need to fight desperately at this pass. It's enough to kill some of the Later Jin Tartars. The brothers fought for two days and two nights and were very tired. If the Later Jin Tartars charge too fiercely, then we will take the initiative to give up this pass and immediately defend the next pass."

The deputy general looked at Liu Zongmin with a hesitant look on his face. He really didn't understand the meaning.

Liu Zongmin snorted and spoke again with anger.

"Leave four hundred brothers, and I will command the pass to defend this pass, and you will lead all the other brothers to retreat to the next pass."

The deputy general trembled for a moment and quickly clasped his fists again.

"General, I will stay with four hundred brothers. You will lead the other brothers to the next pass. Don't worry, if the pass cannot be held, I will lead the brothers to evacuate quickly."

Liu Zongmin hesitated for a moment and finally nodded. The last pass at Tongyukou was less than five miles away from the gate tower. It is necessary to hold on to the desperate situation, delay time as much as possible, and try to give the Later Jin Tartars greater damage, so that the army can better defend the gate tower. Moreover, according to the current situation, the Dashun army must evacuate in an orderly manner in the direction of Xi'an Prefecture City and cannot stay in Tongguan. After all, the ultimate goal of the Later Jin Tartars is Xi'an Prefecture City.

"Okay, remember, if the pass cannot be held, evacuated as soon as possible. Never be surrounded by the Later Jin Tartars. The brothers have tried their best. I will take them back to my hometown."

The deputy general clasped his fists at Liu Zongmin with a firm expression on his face.

"General, my subordinates know, you don't have to worry, I will do my best."

Liu Zongmin couldn't feel at ease, but he had no other choice. The two-day battle almost exhausted his energy.

The shouts and screams in front of him kept coming, and a messenger rushed over.

"General, the Later Jin Tartars launched a charge, and the people were all over the place, and they couldn't last long..."

Liu Zongmin, who was about to leave, snorted heavily. After two days and two nights of battle, the Later Jin Tartars had long changed their offensive strategy. They did not rely entirely on the method of rushing and attacking, but instead focused on the coercion and rockets. Each charger of the Later Jin Tartar either held a coercion or rockets. The whistling bullets and rockets caused major damage to the defending Dashun Army soldiers. Once the defending Dashun Army soldiers could not resist, the Later Jin Tartars began a full-scale charge.

Seeing that Liu Zongmin's expression was wrong, the deputy general spoke.

"General, please lead your brothers to the next pass quickly, and leave it to me."

Liu Zongmin sighed deeply.

"Forget it, notify all brothers and hurry up and retreat to the next pass, the messenger, go and tell the brothers ahead that you have to hold on for a quarter of an hour anyway..."

The messenger knew the importance of this order and turned around and ran away.

Seeing the messenger disappearing, Liu Zongmin looked at the deputy general in front of him and his expression became serious.

"As long as the brothers in front of him repelled this round of attack from the Later Jin Tartars, the next round of attack will be about half a quarter to a quarter of an hour. Let the brothers seize the opportunity to evacuate quickly and go to the next pass, and I am waiting for them at the pass."

After saying these words, Liu Zongmin no longer hesitated and turned around and left with big strides.

...

The howling bows and arrows came towards us, screams came one after another, and the more than ten Han soldiers who charged in the front fell down. The Han soldiers behind were rushing forward with their teeth, waiting for them were the whistling stones. The Han soldiers who were hit by the stones fell to the ground and groaned in pain. The road was narrow, and some Han soldiers who fell to the ground could not stand up in time. They were trampled on by the Han soldiers who charged in the back, and gradually disappeared.

Kong Youde's eyes turned bloody. Two days passed, nearly 6,000 Han soldiers were killed. Every time he captured a pass, countless Han soldiers fell down. If it weren't for the combs and rockets, all Han soldiers would have been killed.

Retreat is impossible. Duoduo had already issued a death order and had to rush forward regardless of everything.

Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming and others around Kong Youde simply lowered their heads and refused to look at the situation of the attack ahead.

More Han soldiers fell down, and the Dashun soldiers guarding the pass were less than 100 meters away.

Kong Youde finally couldn't help it and looked at the officers of the Eight Banners beside him.

"I think I'll take a little rest. This kind of hard attack will cause too much casualties..."

The officer of the Manchu Eight Banners who was in charge of commanding the battle no longer had any indifferent expressions. He had hesitation on his face. After two consecutive days of fighting, he saw too many dead people. Sometimes he was worried that the Han army soldiers would rebel.

"Okay, let everyone rest, and start a charge again in a quarter of an hour. We must take this pass."

The commanders rushed forward in a hurry. The terrain of the pass was too special and they had to run over to convey the order.

The front of the pass was quiet, and occasionally a sound of moaning came.

The officers of the Eight Banners had already run back and reported the situation of the battle here to the Grand Marshal Duoduo.

In just a few minutes, a commander from the Eight Banners rushed from behind and looked at Kong Youde. Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming spoke without hesitation.

"The general has an order, and he must not stop the attack. He will immediately launch an attack on the pass. Within half an hour, he must take down the pass..."

Kong Youde clasped his fists at the messenger and spoke.

"I understand, please tell the general, we will launch an attack on the pass soon..."

After the messenger turned around and left, the officers of the Eight Banners of Kong Youde were about to speak.

Kong Youde coughed and spoke in a low voice.

"Brothers have just retreated and have not had time to take a breath. At this time, the sudden attack will definitely not work. Maybe the casualties will be greater. It is impossible to take down the pass within half an hour..."

The officer of the Manchu Eight Banners nodded. He was responsible for commanding the battle and naturally understood this truth.

"I know, the messenger, go and tell everyone that they will launch an attack on the pass soon, so that everyone can prepare for the attack. If anyone dares to take a step back, he will be killed without mercy..."

When the messenger was running towards the pass, the Eight Banners Army officer looked at the pass ahead, with a suspicious expression on his face. Is the direction of the pass too quiet?

Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming and others also discovered the abnormality.

Two minutes passed, and the Han soldiers began to charge carefully in the direction of the pass, and the bodies on the ground were moved away and placed aside.

Soon, cheering sounds came, and Han soldiers had already climbed the pass and pushed the corpses of Dashun soldiers down...
Chapter completed!