Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 419 Chicken Head Pass

Nanzheng City was in ruins, and the Qing army left as soon as they said it, and quickly abandoned Nanzheng and gathered near Baocheng.

When Zhang Dingguo heard that there were tens of thousands of Qing soldiers outside Jitou Pass, he couldn't help being shocked. The subordinates on the side worried: "Your Highness, the Qing soldiers have already arrived at Jitou Pass. Why don't the army stop for a while, and wait until we find out the situation of the Qing army? March forward."

Zhang Dingguo frowned slightly, "Our army is coming from afar, and it's important to be surprised. We are only more than ten miles away from the enemy. If we stop here, we will be noticed by the Qing army and take precautions. Pass on the king's order, and the army will advance at top speed and seize the enemy in one fell swoop." Get off the chicken head pass."

"Nuo~" Hearing the words, the general clasped his fists on the horse, then pulled the rein, turned the horse's head, and went to the back to urge the soldiers and horses to move quickly.

At this time, Zhang Dingguo ordered the scouts again, "You two go to investigate quickly and find out the defense of Jitouguan."

"No~"

The scout saluted, then got up quickly, turned over and stepped on the horse, and then left quickly, his movements were clean and sharp, and he looked extremely sharp.

The western army continued to advance towards Jitouguan, and after another seven or eight miles, the scouts rushed back again, "His Royal Highness, I climbed the high mountain near Jitouguan, and found that the Qing army only had a few hundred troops at the gate, and the main force was nearly [-]. All the people built great villages on the plain outside the pass.”

Jitouguan is said to be a pass, but it is actually a low, small earthen wall. It was originally used to set up a card to collect taxes. However, because Baoxie Road and Lianyun Road are difficult to walk, Chencang Road is often used to travel between Hanzhong and Guanzhong. , Chang Luodao, so Jitouguan became more and more deserted.

Hearing what the scouts said, Zhang Dingguo was overjoyed when he heard that there were only a few hundred Qing soldiers stationed at Jitou Pass. It seemed that the Qing soldiers did not expect that he would take a small road from Wudu Mountain to Baoxie Road, and then kill him south.

After all, the Qing army still didn't know much about the topography of Hanzhong. Although they had blueprints, they were still a bit behind compared with those from Shaanxi like Zhang Dingguo.

Perhaps Hauge didn’t realize that Wudu Mountain could not only control Chencang Road and Qishan Road, but also cut off Baoxie Road and Lianyun Road. The safety of the chute has not been paid attention to.

In fact, Mount Wudu did not disturb the Bao ramp, but only left such a passage for Hauge to further consume the power of Guanzhong. Otherwise, Hauge would not have stayed in Guanzhong if he found that the Bao ramp was in danger of being cut off. , will inevitably divide the troops to surround Yang County, and then return to Guanzhong from the Meridian Road in the north of Yang County.

Zhang Dingguo pondered slightly on the horse, and suddenly he was a little puzzled. Since the Qing soldiers were about to withdraw from Hanzhong, why did they stop to build a stronghold outside Jitou Pass?

He was puzzled for a moment, so he simply stopped thinking about it and told the general beside him: "Wrap the horse's hoof in cotton cloth, and I will take off the chicken head pass first."

Wars raged in Hanzhong, and merchants had long since disappeared. Except for the Qing soldiers who transported grain and grass from Guanzhong, no one left the Baoxie Road, and even the Qing soldiers who transported supplies had not appeared for more than half a month, so the chickens The Qing soldiers who closed their heads had long since slackened.

When it was noon, the closed Qing soldiers sat together in twos and threes, leaning against the closed wall to bask in the sun. The winter sun made people feel warm and drowsy. Reduced rationing day by day, and appear listless.

Because Hauge didn't expect that the Western Army would come from Baoxie Road, so the Qing soldiers guarding the pass were not elite, not only inferior to the Eight Banners, but in the Green Camp, they were all at the tail of the crane.

At this time, an old soldier who was dozing against the closed wall at the door opening suddenly opened his eyes and looked up at the passage leading to the closed door. ~"

Hearing the sound, Zhang Dingguo didn't say a word, and suddenly sped up his horse, like a cheetah pounced, and rushed under the closed door in an instant, aiming at an officer of the Qing army with the spear in his hand, and pierced his chest with one blow , while the horses didn't stop, rushing directly through the gate that was about to be closed.

At this time, he threw away the horse spear wearing the corpse, pulled out his saber with his backhand, and slashed at the Qing soldiers who were about to close the door. The defender let out a long scream before dying, and finally shocked the entire wall All the Qing soldiers were active.

A Qing soldier came out of the gate in a hurry, and immediately shouted, "There is a situation! The enemy attacked~" Zhang Dingguo controlled the gate, pointed his long knife at the gate, and shouted sharply, "Go up!"

The five hundred cavalrymen of the Western Army, able to shoot when mounted and capable of fighting when dismounted, are Zhang Dingguo's elite personal guards, and they are no worse than Zhang Xianzhong's personal guards. They cooperated with each other tacitly, and when they entered Guancheng, they divided their troops into two groups, and wanted to kill all the Qing soldiers in Guanshang.

At this time, the alarm bells in Guancheng sounded, 'Dang!when!when! 'The sound echoed over Jitouguan.

Outside the pass city, countless Qing soldiers who were camping couldn't help looking in the direction of Jitou Pass. Inside a Qing army tent, Qing general Li Guoying heard the sound, so he couldn't help raising the curtain and came out, asking, "What's going on?"

"Reporting to the general, it seems that Jitou Pass was raided."

The Qing army retreated from Nanzheng to Baocheng, and the Qing soldiers who attacked Yangxian County would also retreat to Baocheng in these two days. Li Guoying was ordered to build a stronghold outside Jitou Pass to prepare for the arrival of the main force of the Qing army.

Hearing the report from his subordinates, he couldn't help being furious, "Go quickly, gather troops and horses for this general, and take back the city pass."

After all, the Qing army didn't pay much attention to Jitou Pass. There were only more than 300 people in the pass city. Even if they tried their best, they were no match for Zhang Dingguo's five hundred soldiers.However, the camp of the Qing army was three miles away from the city gate, and it took a certain amount of time for the Qing general to dispatch troops. Before the reinforcements of the Qing army arrived, the infantry of the Western army had already arrived.

The soldiers screamed and killed, and within less than a stick of incense, all the Qing soldiers were wiped out by the Western Army.

At this moment, Li Guoying also ordered 7000 troops and formed a formation below the pass, but most of the infantry of the Western Army were still on the mountain road.

"What will your Highness do next?" Jiao Guangqi asked hastily.

Zhang Dingguo looked at the 2 Green Battalions in the Guanxia formation, and then looked again. There were tens of thousands of Qing soldiers in the Qing army camp in the distance, and his 3000 troops, except for more than [-] people who had arrived at Guanxia, ​​the others They were still on the mountain road, so Zhang Dingguo said immediately: "Our army is few, and the enemy's army is numerous. As long as we rest, our morale will be gone. We must work hard. No one should rest now, rush up and beat him by surprise! "

The incident happened suddenly, although Li Guoying hastily pulled out [-] soldiers and horses, but his preparations were not sufficient. The Qing army came under the Guancheng in a mess. When he came out, Li Guoying's troops were immediately thrown into chaos.

(End of this chapter)