However, Zhao Cheng had already prepared, and his trip into the mountain was only 30,000 people, which was the main force in the Yingtian army, the Taiping Camp.

Of these 30,000 people, 10,000 are regular soldiers and 20,000 are reservists.

At the beginning, Zhao Cheng set up such a military system in the Taiping Camp, so that the number of reservists was twice that of the regular army, and part of the reason was that it was calculated for today.

The mountains and forests are vast, the grass is deep and the trees are dense, if you are not careful, you will lose your way in the mountains and forests, and more importantly, the terrain in the mountains is ever-changing, there is almost no regularity, and the seemingly flat road is very likely to step on it, and the following is all empty, just the branches and leaves of the trees, and the weeds, paved on the surface.

In addition, there are countless cliffs and deep mountain rifts.

At the beginning, Zhao Cheng entered Wucheng from Lianshan, it was because the place where he was located was very close to Wucheng, and it was because he was able to achieve the speed of the soldiers.

And from today's Yingtian City to the Southern Wilderness, even if he enters the mountain halfway, it is still several times the distance from Lianshan to Wucheng at the beginning.

In this case, although Zhao Cheng repeated his old tricks, as early as a few years ago, he had already sent a team to explore the route in the mountains, draw a road map, make various markers, and almost repair the plank road at the same time, let a group of people, with a large number of ropes into the mountain, in order to point out the direction, in order to achieve a rapid march.

However, because of the long distance and the more complex terrain, the difficulty is more than ten times higher than the original.

In such a terrain, it is destined to be impossible to bring too much baggage supplies, and guns and bullets are extremely heavy, and they must be carried, in this case, it is destined that other military supplies will be pressed to the extreme.

Moreover, marching in such a depressing environment for a long time will be very problematic in terms of morale after a long time, coupled with the consumption of physical energy.

In this case, if you encounter the enemy, I am afraid that ten percent of the combat effectiveness may not be able to exert fifty percent.

This is also why, in the war of this era, when approaching the destination, the first thing the commander did was to find a good place, station the camp, and let his soldiers cultivate first, instead of rushing to fight with people.

The 20,000 reserve forces set up by Zhao Cheng were to solve this problem to a certain extent.

Twenty thousand reservists, divided into two groups, carried all kinds of supplies, but as for the regular army, they brought nothing, in order to preserve physical strength and spirit to the greatest extent.

As for the water, it was Zhao Cheng who had people prepare it in the mountains early, and the places to rest during the journey were all carefully calculated.

The so-called three armies went ahead before moving grain and grass.

Of course, such a thing as burying drinking water in advance can only be done in the mountains.

The mountains and forests are vast, and the people selected by Zhao Cheng have gone through rounds of screening, and the final selection of innocent people, not only that, but these people also supervise each other to eliminate the possibility of leakage to the greatest extent.

In the mountains and forests, the trees are tall and cover the sky, and in many places, even during the day, it is extremely dark and difficult to see.

But now, along the rope, the mighty ranks converge into a long line, of which 20,000 reservists are in front, and 10,000 regular troops are walking behind, which can now most effectively maintain the physical strength of the main force.

As for the road, it is naturally not a flat bottom, there are many steep slopes, and in some places, it is three or five meters high, and the slope is infinitely close to 90 degrees.

At this time, the role of the rope is once again brought into play.

Generally, this kind of extremely steep slope, in addition to the rope, the stone wall, also has a hole dug out, which can make it easy for people to borrow force, so that such a terrain is not difficult to form resistance.

As for the potholes between the mountains and forests, the shallower ones were filled with clay early on, and although they were not infallible, they did not interfere with the march of the army, and the great fissures were cut down between the trees in the mountains, and several were tied side by side, and tied with ropes.

Whether it is wood or rope, it is easy to rot in the mountains, and it will only take a year or two at most, and these things will be embarrassing and useful, but Zhao Cheng only needs to walk like this once.

This time out of the southern wilderness, the great cause will not be accomplished, and I will not pay it back!

Thundered!

Tens of thousands of people walk in the mountains, the pace is uniform, there are trees to cover, with human ears, as long as there is a distance of several hundred meters, are not able to hear the slightest movement, and only the insects and beasts in the mountains and forests, their perception, far more acute than people, directly scattered and fled.

And the speed of this team's march is also very terrifying, although even Zhao Cheng is now impossible to directly open up a straight road in the mountains, but the road they took is far shorter than the passage in and out of the Southern Wilderness, the distance is shorter than half.

Half the journey is equivalent to saving half the time.

Now that there is a main force to confuse the enemy, half the time saved can completely attack the enemy.

Of course, Zhao Cheng did not intend to attack the Heavenly Absolute Pass, the height of the wall of the Heavenly Absolute Pass, although it was not as high as Ying Heavenly City, but it also had half its height.

Although Zhao Cheng has thunder and fire in his hands, as long as he is willing to die, even if the enemy has firearms and bombs, he can forcibly blow up the city wall.

But now, he only has 30,000 soldiers and horses, and only 10,000 guns.

And now, the world's heroes responded to the imperial court's edict to crusade against him, and there were at least hundreds of thousands of troops in that day.

Hundreds of thousands of troops, gathered into one force, and with firearms, even if the range of this firearm is limited, but the number of people alone is enough to pile his men and horses to death.

After all, even if he broke through the city wall, if he entered the city, the defenders in the city, relying on the geographical advantage, fought with him in the streets, in that case, the rifle in his hand that was ahead of the era would not be able to play the greatest effect.

Therefore, Zhao Cheng is now secretly Chencang, and the biggest target is not the Heavenly Absolute Pass, but the defenders who are outside the Heavenly Absolute Pass, and they are guarding the South Wilderness Pass along the way.

These people have guns, cannons, and thunder in their hands, and they are still building blockhouses on the main roads.

And most of those key roads are narrow, if he doesn't carry out a surprise attack, it's not that he can't overcome it, but it's completely a pile of human lives.

If you want to push all the way to the end of the sky, I am afraid that you will be consumed fifty or sixty thousand elites, as for the enemy, the defenders stationed in a pillbox are only more than 100 people, and there are more than 100 pillboxes along the way, adding up to more than 10,000 people.

This kind of loss-making battle is naturally impossible for Zhao Cheng to fight.

Only by fighting a surprise attack, in a very short time, so that the defenders in the Heavenly Absolute Pass did not have time to react, they would end up the men and horses at the entrance and cut off the reinforcements from the place.

And once the pass is seized, the advantage is on Zhao Cheng's side, and these 10,000 rifles, even if only half or 5,000 are separated, it is enough to block the enemy's army, making it difficult for them to advance half a step in a short time.

The rest is naturally to attack back and forth, smashing the biggest obstacle to the Southern Wilderness.

(End of chapter)