Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 261 Hulao Pass
"Bo Yan, You Chang, what do you think about this Northern Expedition of the Lord's army?" In the front army camp, the rest of the people went to work on their own, only Lu Xun and Ma Su were left behind by Zhao Feng to talk on paper.

"General, I think my lord's purpose of sending troops to the north this time is to relieve the pressure on us in Hanzhong. I think that after General Zilong and the others settle the matter in Xiliang, we can join forces in one place, and then march into Guanzhong and beyond. It's time to pacify Xiahouyuan!" After thinking about it, Ma Di said confidently.Zhao Feng was noncommittal when he heard the words, but looked at Lu Xun with a questioning look.

"General, I think my lord's Northern Expedition is not an easy one!" Lu Xun's tone was more serious, but he still chose a more relaxed tone.After looking at Ma Di and Zhao Feng, Lu Xun said slowly, "Now my lord's 30 troops are marching northward. Even though Hulao Pass and Luoyang have been conquered, Xiahou Yuan still controls Guanzhong in the west, and the Yellow River in the east and north. It is the land of Cao Cao. If you move your army northward, you will be faced with enemies on three sides; if you move your army westward, you will have the natural danger of Tongguan. In this way, I am afraid that we may not be able to achieve too much victory!"

"I feel the same way!" Zhao Feng also sighed.But after all, Zhao Feng also knew that the temptation for Wang Shi to go north to recover Luoyang was too great.Even Liu Bei, who is so calm, couldn't help but venture into it.If I can march into Guanzhong, I can naturally realize Zhuge Liang's Longzhong Opposition, making it difficult for Cao Cao to take care of both ends.But now I am also stumbling, relying on Liu Bei's strength alone is really not enough.

"Don't worry, general. There are Mr. Xu Yuanzhi, Pang Shiyuan and Chen Gongtai who are in charge of military affairs, and the three generals, Zhang Wenyuan and Wen Zhongye. I think even if they are defeated, they will be safe and sound." Ma Di saw that the two were not too interested. , Changed the topic and explained.Zhao Feng nodded lightly, then cheered up and said: "We'll deal with the enemy in front of us first, and then make plans!" Immediately, he sent out scouts to strengthen the patrol, and prepared to eat up the opponent's raid team.

At the same time, Zhao Feng and Lu Xun, who were a little worried, had just led an army to capture Xingyang.It is actually a bit inappropriate to say that it was captured, because they took down this ancient city of the Qin Dynasty almost without bloodshed.

"The city wall of Xingyang is high and dangerous, and it is an important place to guard Hulao Pass, but there are only a few thousand weak soldiers defending the city. Why is it so easy for Cao Ren to abandon this strategic location?" In Xingyang City, Zhang Liao asked He frowned authentically.It seems to be talking to himself, and it seems to be asking Pang Tong and others.

"I think Cao Ren wants to concentrate his forces and guard the natural danger of Hulao Pass to stop my army!" Chen Gong thought for a while.Although Xingyang is also a key point, it is good for holding on, but it is under the attack of Xuchang and the southeast sides of Wancheng. No matter how conceited Cao Ren is, he may not be able to have enough confidence to hold Xingyang.At this time, shrinking troops and retreating to Hulao Pass is the most realistic strategy.

"Since this is the case, I will send troops to Hulao Pass to fight Cao Ren!" Liu Bei saw that Chen Gong and others had said so, so he decided to continue marching.At this time, Ma Lai reported that Cao Cao of Hebei Province personally led Li Yang's 20 troops to Hanoi, and the goal was probably to rescue Hulao Pass.

"Okay! It seems that Cao Mengde can't hold his breath anymore!" Liu Bei laughed.Pang Tong on the side thought for a while and said: "My lord, Cao Cao has to cross the Yellow River to save Hulao Pass from Liyang. However, the journey for me to enter Hulao Pass from Xingyang is relatively short. If we march with all our strength, it is estimated that At least seven or eight days earlier than Cao Cao, we can rush to Hulao Pass. Before that, if we can capture Hulao Pass in one fell swoop, we can force Cao Cao and us to fight in Henan, and at worst, we can also attack Henan and Hongnong Next. If it goes well, we may be able to attack the west and enter the pass! Therefore, I advise you to go forward and attack Hulao pass!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked.What Pang Tong said is completely valid in theory.But even if he went to Hulao for seven or eight days earlier than Cao Cao, would he be able to capture Hulao?Cao Ren had more than [-] troops at Hulao Pass, and he was skilled at defending the city. It was really difficult to capture Hulao Pass.After hearing this, Zhang Liao was the first to speak: "Liaosu knows that the military commander Pang is resourceful, but he doesn't know what tricks the military master has now to take down Hulao Pass within a few days?"

"Hehe, General Wenyuan, it's not a clever plan. It's just a siege weapon created by General Zhao in the past. It has been developed many times over the years before it is complete." Speaking of this, Pang Tong also sighed. Some regrets said: "If there was this thing in Xuchang in the past, I'm afraid Cao Cao has already conferred the head!"

"That's good!" Liu Bei knew that Zhao Feng's mechanism was definitely powerful enough, and these years of practice had proved this point more than once.Now that Pang Tong was so confident, Liu Bei didn't say anything more, and immediately ordered the army to move at full speed, aiming at Hulao Pass.

Two days later, Liu Bei's front troops had arrived at Hulaoguan City.Cao Ren, the general guarding the pass, had already prepared to defend the pass before he heard the news. At the same time, he sent someone to report to Cao Cao who led the army as soon as possible.Cao Ren also knew that Cao Cao could arrive in as many as ten days and as few as eight days.As long as I can hold on for a few days, I will leave the rest to Cao Cao himself.

"Don't worry, Uncle Zixiao, I've already checked. Rolling wood and stones, rolling oil and arrows, and all kinds of defense equipment are back. The day before yesterday, I led people to strengthen the city wall. If Liu Bei comes, he will lose his troops and lose his generals!" On the top of the city, Cao Hong's eldest son, Cao Fu, the captain of Fenwei who assisted Cao Ren in guarding the pass, talked eloquently.Cao Ren looked at the solid city wall, the abundant arrows, rolling logs and stones on the top of the city, as well as the smoky oil pan, and nodded in satisfaction.With these, plus more than [-] guarding officers and soldiers in his hands, he has enough confidence to stop Liu Bei for more than a month.Seeing that it was getting late today, Cao Ren knew that it was unrealistic for Liu Bei to attack the city on a large scale today, but he still sent people to patrol overnight just in case, so he left the pass with confidence.

In the early morning of the next day, the 9 people at the front of Liu Bei's army who had arrived at Hulao Pass, under the personal leadership of Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, all gathered at Hulao Pass to prepare for the breakthrough.It was early winter at this time, Hulao Pass was adjacent to the Yellow River, and the north wind blowing from the river was very strong.

"This city wall seems to be higher?" Liu Bei sighed softly as he looked at the steep city wall.Beside him, both Zhang Fei and Zhang Liao were silent. The former looked at the closed city gate, as if it would open the next moment, and then, like 18 years ago, Lu Bu rushed out of it.

"My lord, everything is ready to attack the city!" Just when Liu Bei and Zhang Fei were full of emotion, a word from Pang Tong who stepped forward interrupted their memories.Liu Bei nodded, looked at the dozens of trebuchets spread out behind him, and turned his horse's head to get out of the open space so that the trebuchets were ready to attack the city.

"Uncle, it seems that Liu Bei is going to smash rocks again!" Cao Fu also laughed while looking at the dozens of trebuchets under the city.There was a reason why he was so relaxed, not to mention the high and dangerous walls of Hulao Pass, and the terrain in front of the pass was very narrow, Liu Bei could only arrange less than [-] trebuchets to smash at the same time at most.The stone rain of this density is simply a symbolic blow to the defenders of the city.

Cao Ren hadn't noticed anything unusual yet, but Liu Bei soon realized that something was wrong today.Because Pang Tong ordered people to load the catapults not with stones, but with jars.Liu Bei looked at it for a while, and then asked: "Shi Yuan, is this jar full of kerosene?"

"No, my lord, this thing is gunpowder, not kerosene." Pang Tong replied with a smile.

"Gunpowder?" Liu Bei wondered, he knew nothing about this stuff.

"Exactly, this is a sharp weapon developed by General Zhao in Xichuan to defeat the enemy. This time I marched into Hulao Pass. I knew that this pass is a rare pass in the world, so I asked Kong Ming and General Zhao for hundreds of them. This kind of gunpowder jar is just in case! The former fan took two experiments and felt that this thing is really powerful, so he specially used it for tackling key problems. The lord can send an elite team to wait for it. After the gunpowder shows its power, immediately move your army to cover up the kill, and you will surely break through in one fell swoop!" Pang Tong said confidently.

"Okay, third brother, you can arrange this!" Seeing Pang Tong's confidence, Liu Bei nodded and agreed.At present, Zhang Fei arranged two teams, each with [-] elite soldiers, ready to take advantage of the chaos to tackle key problems at any time.At the same time, the first batch of thirty jars had also been filled.

"Ignite, launch!" Following Pang Tong's order, the thirty jars were ignited by a fuse pulled out from the mouth of the jar, and then the whole jar was thrown into the sky. Under the expectant eyes of Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, they directly Slam it into the Hulao.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" There was a loud bang, and jars filled with gunpowder burst on the top of the city one by one.Most of them exploded after reaching the top of the city, and some exploded in mid-air.But the loud noise, the shock wave caused by the explosion, and the broken porcelain pieces splashed after the jar burst, immediately caused a series of chaos.

"What's going on here?" Cao Ren, who had witnessed all this with his own eyes, was also taken aback after seeing the power of the first round of gunpowder bullets.Nearly a hundred soldiers were killed and wounded at once.And almost everyone who survived was panicked by the bombing.

"Is this gunpowder?" Not only Cao Ren, but also Liu Bei, who was barely a bystander, was startled when he saw such power.Beside him, Zhang Fei, who had always been fearless, and Zhang Liao, who showed no emotion or expression, had no demeanor at all.The former opened his mouth and let the saliva flow down; as for the latter, his face, which had always been calm, changed color in shock.

"Exactly, this thing was developed by General Zhao in Xichuan, and it has infinite power. General Zhao once said that gunpowder will definitely change future wars!" Pang Tong sighed.This can be regarded as the most proud work that Zhao Feng has worked on over the years, and it has cost him a lot of hard work.

Zhao Feng knew the formula of black gunpowder, which was fire, nitric acid, sulfur and charcoal.Even the chemical reaction equations that occurred during the explosion can be written out verbatim.But theory belongs to theory, not to mention that it is only a superficial theory, and there is still a big gap with practice.In the process of researching gunpowder, Zhao Feng first encountered the problem of raw materials.

At this time, it was the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Charcoal and sulfur were available, but fire nitrate was still not available.Generally, the saltpeter is just ground up, and directly blended together as fire salt to use.Zhao Feng knew that the main ingredients of fire nitrate were potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate, these things are soluble in water, but now you can't just put the whole stone in the water for clubbing.Because of this, Zhao Feng's gunpowder plan almost ran aground completely.

Unexpectedly, since the seizure of Hanzhong, by chance, Zhao Feng accidentally found the method of refining fire salt from Zhang Lu's notes on alchemy.It is to smash the saltpeter and cook it with sliced ​​radish.The boiled soup is filtered to remove the residue, concentrated and refined, and relatively pure nitrate crystals can be obtained.With the addition of the original charcoal and sulfur, the three major elements of gunpowder were finally assembled.

As for what to do with this gunpowder, Zhao Feng also thought for a long time.With the iron smelting technology at this time, it must be impossible to produce enough fine iron to make guns, and I am not proficient in this aspect.After a few failed attempts, I guess I can only make some bombs or mines first.

This bomb converted from a wine jar, commonly known as jar mine, was developed by Zhao Feng, and it was the first gunpowder weapon that could be used on the battlefield.Specifically about the structure of this thing, the older generation's storytelling "Sui and Tang Dynasties" described it in detail, that is, put the gunpowder mixed evenly in proportion into the wine jar, then insert a bamboo tube, and put the lead wire from the inside to make a wine jar. The fuse, and then seal the mouth of the jar with soil.In this way, once the fuse is ignited and the entire internal gunpowder is ignited, the gas and heat caused by the rapid combustion cannot be released in time, thus breaking the outer wall of the jar and causing an explosion.

It sounds powerful, but in fact, its power is relatively average.However, Zhao Feng reckoned that such a big jar of thunder would hurt his muscles and bones once it exploded.In order to increase the lethality, he also mixed broken iron pieces into the gunpowder.Once it explodes, even if no one is killed, the splashed iron is enough to beat the nearby people to death.This thing is said to be powerful, it must be inferior to those grenades of later generations, but Zhao Feng estimates that compared with those earth mines and guerrilla landmines, it is probably half a catty.Come to think of it, we've all been working with little devils for so many years just relying on these things.No matter how ruthless Cao Cao was, he couldn't be more ruthless than the little devil.

Zhao Feng spent so many years tinkering in his spare time in Xichuan, and he only made nearly a thousand jars of thunder, which only he and Zhuge Liang knew.This time Pang Tong accompanied the army in the Northern Expedition and had to face such a dangerous pass as Hulao Pass, so he used Zhuge Liang's relationship to get a batch of jar mines from Zhao Feng.Now it is well suited to deal with Hulao Pass.

"But Junjun Pang, there are only more than 200 gunpowder. I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult to blow up the Hulao Pass with this!" After watching for a while, Liu Bei also had a more accurate idea of ​​the power of the jar thunder. I got it, this thing is fierce, but its real power is definitely not as bluffing as it looks.After Liu Bei thought about it for a while, he knew that it was not realistic to rely on things to completely blow up the Hulaoguan.

"Tong also knows that this time it is only to deter the enemy with the power of the thunder, and there are new tricks below!" Pang Tong looked at the bewildered Cao Jun on the pass, and a cruel smile appeared on his face.

(End of this chapter)