The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 207 Flying Across the Motianling Mountains, Entering Sichuan
Just as Jiang Han was leading his main force southward, advancing towards Guangyuan with unstoppable momentum, Li Zicheng and his elite force of over two thousand men were still being tormented by the Yinping Trail.

This road is truly exceptionally difficult.

For the first few days after the team set off, they were able to travel along the valley at the foot of the mountain.

Although the road was rugged and littered with gravel, it still allowed the army to advance slowly.

But when they bypassed Wenxian County and truly plunged into that remote primeval forest, everyone realized what it meant to be "extremely difficult to move forward".

The forests in the southwest are completely different from the Qinling Mountains they are familiar with.

The weather here is hot and humid, and the forest is rife with miasma.

The dense, primeval forest cuts off the sunlight, making the forest dark and damp year-round. Thick layers of rotting leaves emit a nauseating musty smell.

The soldiers had to use their waist knives to constantly hack away at the thorns and vines blocking their way, and each step forward required a considerable amount of physical exertion.

Poisonous insects and leeches lurking in the shadows are even more difficult to guard against.

Many soldiers' legs and arms were soon covered in bloody, swollen, and even ulcerated from the bites.

Non-combat casualties soon occurred in the ranks, with many soldiers dying from poisonous insects or falling off cliffs.

After more than half a month of arduous travel, Li Zicheng's troops finally arrived at Motianling.

This is also the most difficult section of the Yinping Trail. Once we cross Motianling, entering Sichuan will be just around the corner.

The northern slope of Motianling was fine, but when Li Zicheng and his men reached the ridge, they were so shocked by the scene below that they were speechless.

It was a huge, almost vertical rock wall, smooth and steep, with no visible path to climb.

Below the rock face is a steep slope, with a bottomless cliff on the side. Clouds and mist swirl around the mountainside like a white belt, obscuring the bottom of the cliff.

Faced with this situation, let alone going down the mountain, just standing on the edge of the cliff and looking down was enough to make these soldiers' legs go weak.

"How do we get across?"

"There's no road! There's absolutely no road!"

The soldiers were all terrified. Looking at the desolate cliff in front of them, they hesitated and dared not take another step forward.

Li Zicheng's expression was solemn; he knew it was time for him to take action to stabilize the morale of his troops.

Without wasting words, he turned to look at Liu Zongmin behind him:

"Go, push all the mules carrying supplies and provisions off the cliff."

Although Liu Zongmin was puzzled, he still quickly carried out the order.

Dozens of mules let out mournful cries as they were pushed off the cliff one by one, tumbling and crashing down the steep slope before falling silent.

Li Zicheng's goal was clear: these mules couldn't go any further, so he might as well use their bodies to clear a bloody path first, and then use their corpses as cushions for the final push.

He then ordered his soldiers to throw their weapons and supplies down the mountainside to lighten their load.

After doing all this, Li Zicheng still felt it wasn't safe enough, so he ordered his soldiers to cut bamboo on the spot and make a lot of bamboo net bullets, which they then threw down the cliff.

Even so, when the soldiers returned to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the "landing point" made of mule and horse carcasses and bamboo nets, they were still somewhat afraid.

Even Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, and others felt a chill run down their spines after seeing it.

Seeing this, Li Zicheng knew it was time for him to step forward. He had to lead by example and guide his army with concrete actions.

In an era without instant messaging, where information was primarily transmitted by shouting, almost every general leading troops in battle had to take the lead in battle.

Firstly, it was to observe the enemy's and our own situation; secondly, it was to boost morale.

The morale of an army depends entirely on the personal prestige and courage of its commander.

When things are going well, things are fine, but once you're in dire straits, it's up to the general to step up and lead his troops to fight their way out.

At this time, Li Zicheng was facing a desperate situation, so he naturally needed to take the lead and set an example for his soldiers.

He stepped forward, walked to the edge of the cliff, turned around, and shouted loudly to everyone:

"Brothers! This cliff is treacherous, but we have no way out!"

"We've come a long way, traversing mountains and rivers, covering hundreds of miles. Now that we're at the final hurdle, how can we give up so easily?"

"Now, as long as we cross this cliff, Jiangyou will be right in front of us!"

"Watch me go ahead and scout the way for you all!"

After saying that, Li Zicheng grabbed the felt blanket from the soldier next to him, wrapped it tightly around his body, and prepared to roll down.

"Uncle!"

"General!"

His nephew Li Guo and the fierce general Liu Zongmin were shocked to see this. They rushed forward and grabbed him tightly, shouting in unison:

"I'll go!"

Li Zicheng shoved the two men aside, his eyes wide open, his voice booming:

"A general should always lead from the front! If our predecessors could overcome it, so can I, Li Zicheng!"

He glanced one last time at the two thousand-plus soldiers around him, whose expressions were complex, and then burst into laughter:

"Gentlemen, let's celebrate our victory down the mountain!"

Before he finished speaking, he wrapped the blanket tightly around himself, kicked his foot hard, and tumbled down the steep hillside like a stone!

Under the watchful eyes of more than two thousand people atop the mountain, the figure wrapped in a felt blanket tumbled, collided, and plummeted repeatedly on the steep cliff face.

Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

Finally, with a muffled thud, Li Zicheng's body crashed heavily onto the pile of animal carcasses below.

Then he remained motionless, as if he were dead.

At the summit, all was deathly silent.

Oh no, could the commander have really fallen to his death?

At this moment, Li Zicheng, though not dead, had indeed narrowly escaped death.

He felt dizzy and disoriented, his head felt like it was going to explode, and his internal organs felt out of place.

His whole body was covered in sticky, warm liquid, and a strong smell of blood assaulted his nostrils.

Upon smelling the blood, he was terrified, fearing it was his own blood. Could it be that he had lost an arm or a leg when he rolled down?
He endured the discomfort and quickly checked himself over. Fortunately, all his body parts were still intact.

Most of the blood came from the carcasses of the mules beneath him.

Seeing this, Li Zicheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. He lay on the pile of bloody mule carcasses, and without resting for long, he took two deep breaths and then struggled to stand up.

Facing the two thousand concerned yet terrified gazes from the mountaintop, he raised his arm high and, in a hoarse voice, waved and shouted with all his might.

"It's alright! Come down, everyone!"

The soldiers on the mountain breathed a sigh of relief when they saw their commander stand up again, witnessing Li Zicheng's blood-soaked yet unyielding figure. It was as if they had been injected with a powerful stimulant, greatly boosting their morale.

"The general is mighty!"

I don't know who was the first to shout it out.

Immediately, a roar like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down resounded across the entire mountaintop!

Li Zicheng's nephew, Li Guo, also had bloodshot eyes and tears in the corners of his eyes.

Without a word, he grabbed the blanket beside him and roared at the top of his lungs at the soldiers around him:
"The general is already waiting downstairs!"

"If you're a man, charge with me!"

Immediately, he wrapped himself tightly in the blanket and rolled down towards the pile of mule carcasses without hesitation.

With such a role model, the soldiers no longer hesitated.

They followed suit, one after another, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, tumbling down from the mountaintop.

Standing at the bottom of the cliff, Li Zicheng watched this magnificent yet tragic scene with deep emotion.

Most of the soldiers were lucky enough to land on the buffer zone. Although they were bruised and battered, they stood up happily and cheered loudly.
Some of the less fortunate brothers, however, struck protruding rocks during the tumble, or veered off course and plunged into deeper cliffs, never to rise again.
Although Li Zicheng's heart was bleeding, his eyes grew ever more determined.

Thus, after sacrificing hundreds of lives, Li Zicheng finally led this extraordinary force to successfully cross the insurmountable natural barrier of Motianling.

Now there's only one last hurdle left: Jiangyou.

Although Jiangyou was not far away, Li Zicheng did not rush to march.

His soldiers had just crossed a treacherous pass, and their energy and physical strength were almost completely depleted; they desperately needed rest.

Li Zicheng immediately ordered the entire army to set up camp.

At the same time, he ordered his men to skin and butcher the mules and horses that had fallen to their deaths at the bottom of the slope, build a bonfire, and give the surviving brothers a hearty meal.

After a day and a night of rest, the army finally set off again the next day, full of energy.

Soon, Li Zicheng's army reached the gates of Jiangyou Pass.

Jiangyou Pass is located with its back to central Sichuan and its front facing the Fu River. There is only one lonely iron chain bridge across the river as its only passage.

Li Zicheng did not dare to swagger forward, but quietly hid in the woods not far away, waiting for nightfall.

At midnight, Li Zicheng led his troops across the iron chain bridge and launched a surprise attack on Jiangyou Pass.

Meanwhile, Cheng Ming, the garrison commander of Jiangyou Pass, was still fast asleep in his bed.

He was only awakened from his dream by the deafening shouts of battle.

Cheng Ming hurriedly ordered his men to organize a resistance, but it was too late.

Jiangyou Pass had long been silent of battle, its defenses were already weak, and it was severely short of troops.

Furthermore, the attack occurred at night, and most of the soldiers were so frightened that they scattered before the battle even began.

Left with no other choice, Cheng Ming had to open the gates and surrender.

After breaking through Jiangyou Pass, Li Zicheng barely paused before immediately marching north.

Following the directions given by Cheng Ming and some surrendered soldiers, he traveled north along the Great Sword Mountain, successfully bypassing Jianzhou and heading straight for the rear of Jianmen Pass.

Jianmen Pass is located at the break in the Dajian Mountain range, while Jianzhou is located in the river valley basin south of Jianmen Pass, serving as the rear support for the pass.

The Shuzhong Guangji records that "Forty li north of Jianzhou is Jianmen Pass, where two mountain cliffs stand tall, with a passage in the middle, which is the Jinniu Road."

In the military defense layout of the Ming Dynasty, Jianmen Pass was the front line and Jianzhou was the logistics hub: troops were stationed in the pass to defend the natural barrier, while the city of Jianzhou stored grain and fodder and stationed reserve troops.

Li Zicheng traveled lightly, without any artillery, making it almost impossible for him to capture Jianzhou.

Therefore, he had no choice but to bypass the prefecture city and cut in between Jianzhou and Jianmen Pass.

At this time, Li Changming, the commander of Lizhou Guard stationed at Jianmen Pass, was unaware that the bandits had already crossed the border through the Yinping Trail.

He was standing on the gate tower to the north, looking at the bandit soldiers who had stopped at the foot of the mountain, feeling smug.

"A bunch of stupid thieves, so what if they can fight?"

"Even if you encounter this formidable Jianmen Pass, you'll still be defeated and forced to return home, sighing in despair as you gaze at the pass!"

But just as he was inspecting the pass, a sudden shout of battle came from the south of the pass!
This was Li Zicheng's army, which had already reached the foot of Jianmen Pass.

Originally, Li Zicheng wanted to disguise himself as government troops coming from Sichuan to reinforce the city and trick them into opening the gates.

However, the soldiers stationed outside the pass saw that Li Zicheng and his men were dressed in rags, covered in dust, and looked like beggars. They immediately became suspicious and refused to let them into the city.

This greatly worried Li Zicheng.

Damn it, what's wrong with the appearance of my troops?
Isn't this standard equipment for the Ming army right now?
If a truly imposing and well-armored army were to arrive, you should really start to suspect that it might be a fake.

Left with no other option, Li Zicheng stopped pretending and directly ordered the guards to be killed, then launched a strong attack on Jianmen Pass from the south.

When Li Changming received the alarm, he was terrified. He never expected that the enemy soldiers would have circled around to his back.

He quickly led the defending troops to change direction and begin to resist the enemy soldiers from the south.

Li Zicheng's troops had endured countless hardships, traversing mountains and rivers, and were already seething with anger.

Now that Jianmen Pass was right in front of them, these soldiers fought with even greater ferocity, each vying to be the first to charge.

Li Changming led his troops in a desperate resistance, and they were on the verge of collapse when suddenly a deafening roar of battle cries came from the north.

Although Jiang Han recently stopped his attack on Jianmen Pass, he has kept scouts outside the pass to support Li Zicheng's troops.

Upon hearing the commotion coming from the south of the pass, the scout immediately rushed down the mountain to report to Jiang Han.

Jiang Han estimated the time and knew that Li Zicheng should have arrived with his troops.

Without saying a word, he immediately mustered his troops and launched a final all-out attack on Jianmen Pass.

Li Changming was already struggling to cope with the enemy forces to the south, and now that the north was also under attack, he could no longer hold them off.

He led his personal guards in a desperate attempt to fight to the death, but before he could even launch a charge, he was shot dead by an arrow at Jianmen Pass.

With its commander dead, and facing a pincer attack from the north and south by enemy troops, Jianmen Pass, known as the "most formidable pass in Sichuan," could no longer hold out and collapsed.

Jiang Han also officially opened the door to the Land of Abundance.

According to post-event statistics, it took Jiang Han's troops a total of three and a half months from Guanzhong to successfully enter Sichuan.

His troops suffered losses of five or six hundred men just on the march.

Among them, Li Zicheng's troops suffered the most casualties. When he secretly crossed Yinping, more than 400 people died on the way.

However, the number of casualties was not large; during the attack on the passes along the way, only a little over three hundred people were killed or wounded.

Thus, after sacrificing the precious lives of nearly a thousand soldiers, Jiang Han's troops finally succeeded in entering Sichuan territory.
Next, we need to find a place to spend the winter and officially begin establishing our base.

　This is the first chapter; more will follow. I'm currently working overtime to write more.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)