Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 218
On the side of the Young Marshal Army, in order not to give Qin Ting too much time to respond, on the third day after taking Wuguan, he just sent Li Shang to lead the Young Marshal Army into Hanzhong. The main force of the handsome army marched towards Gaoguan, but the young handsome army who was trapped in the narrow mountain road and carried a large amount of food, grass and military supplies couldn't get up fast. They could only march about forty miles a day, and it would take seven days at least conservatively. Only then can they reach Gaoguan, and there is almost nothing to stop the Qin army from increasing its troops at Gaoguan.

The trouble was not limited to the road. After going deep into the mountainous area for more than a day, Long Qie, who was opening the road ahead, sent an urgent report, saying that it was the Qin Army Li Cai's unit who had voluntarily withdrawn from Wuguan. A temporary line of defense was built to block the westward path of the Young Marshal's army, and Long Qie's army immediately launched an attack on the Qin army's line of defense.

"You're so courageous, you dare to struggle to your death." Xiang Kang snorted coldly, and then ordered to the Longqie army messenger: "Go and tell General Longqie that after he defeated the Tyrant Qin army, don't chase him too far. , the mountain road is narrow, and it is necessary to prevent the Tyrant Qin army from ambush."

The envoy of the Longqi army sang a promise, and flew back immediately to deliver Xiang Kang's password. Xiang Kang, who was full of confidence in Longqi, ignored the matter, and led the main force of the young commander to the west, but to Xiang Kang's surprise, More than an hour later, when the main force of the Young Marshal saw the flag of the Longqie army, the front was still shouting and killing, and the battle was still going on. Xiang Kang saw Daqi and said, "How is it possible? There is no city wall pass How could the Tyrant Qin army hold off Long Qi for so long?"

It was still after he rode his horse to the front and saw the battlefield situation clearly that Xiang Kang finally understood the reason why Longqie's army had been attacking for a long time. Digging the road on the mountainside directly, the soldiers of Longqie had no way to touch the fortifications of the Qin army. They could only cover with bows and arrows while moving earth and rocks to pave the road, so the progress of attacking the fortifications was very slow.

Fortunately, after all, the Young Marshal Army has a strong force, and it paid a certain price for constantly moving earth and rocks back and forth. After all, it broke through the Qin Army's defensive position before sunset. More than two thousand Qin troops were forced to retreat, and the Young Marshal Army did not dare When it was almost dark, they pursued too far, and after only chasing for more than ten miles, they were forced to withdraw their troops, allowing most of the Qin army to escape smoothly.

The next day, Long Qie was still in the vanguard, but at noon, Long Qie sent someone to report again, saying that Li Caijun had established a blocking position at a dangerous place ahead. Xiang Kang did not dare to be careless this time, and hurriedly Asked the messenger: "What is the situation of the position chosen by the Tyrant Qin army? What are the arrangements?"

"Report to General You." The Longqie army messenger cupped his hands and replied: "This time, the Tyrant Qin army chose to build a fort on the bank of Danshui, built a wall and a sheep and horse wall, and dug the road in front of the sheep and horse wall. It is broken, and the river is filled with water, so it is very difficult to attack."

Xiang Kang's complexion changed a little, and he hurriedly asked again: "How many troops does the Tyrant Qin army have?"

"Reporting to General You, the Tyrant Qin army has two thousand-man banners, and its strength should be around [-]." The messenger replied truthfully again.

Xiang Kang's face became serious, and he turned to Uncle Zhou next to him and asked, "General Zhou, what do you think?"

"If there is no accident, Li Cai's arrangement should be like this." Uncle Zhou replied: "Divide the army into two, one is responsible for blocking our army in the front, and the other is responsible for destroying the road behind. Rushing to build new fortifications, such repeated rotations of building fortifications and fighting, dragged our army into the quagmire of tough battles, and slowed down our advancing speed as much as possible, so as to buy time for the Tyrant Qin court to respond."

"How to crack it?" Xiang Kang asked again.

"It can't be cracked." Uncle Zhou spread his hands helplessly, and said, "There is only one road, and we have no way to weave through it. We can only attack one by one and move forward slowly."

"As expected of Li Xin's son, I didn't embarrass Li Xin." Xiang Kang snorted, and then told Long Qi's messenger: "Go and tell Long Qi, after breaking through the position of the Tyrant Qin army, you must chase after him with all your strength." Kill to the end, don't give the Tyrant Qin army a chance to retreat calmly. Don't worry about the Tyrant Qin army having an ambush, I will send the rear army to meet him."

After saying that, Xiang Kang immediately called Zhujishi and asked him to lead his troops to advance westward first to help Longqie attack the blocking position of the Qin army, and also to follow the Longqie army who was chasing the enemy, so as to prevent the Qin army from entering the narrow mountain road. An ambush was arranged in the middle to put Long Qie's army in danger, and at the same time seize the opportunity of the Qin army's retreat to eliminate the enemy as much as possible, so as to prevent the Qin army from deploying defenses calmly and slow down the speed of the young commander's army.

Xiang Kang's arrangement did not achieve satisfactory results. It took a lot of time and a lot of money. After finally breaking through the blocking position of the Qin army, although the Longqie army immediately launched a pursuit, the Qin army really withdrew too quickly However, the Longqiu army did not make much gains in the pursuit battle, the sky was completely dark, and the pursuit of the Longqie army became more difficult because of this, so most of the soldiers of the Qin army still managed to escape.Xiang Kang also had no choice but to order a change of lineup, let Zhujishi be the pioneer, and replace the Long Qie army who was exhausted after a long battle.

As expected by Uncle Zhou, in the next two days, the Qin Army's headquarters, which divided the army into two teams, really adopted the strategy of building fortifications and fighting in turn, using the narrow mountain road to seriously slow down the speed of the young commander's army. Although the generals of the handsome army fought bravely, they suffered from the fact that the road was too narrow and the troops could not be deployed. The fortified battle had been fought very hard. They could only eliminate some enemies in the pursuit battle, and they had not been able to seize the opportunity to severely injure the Qin army.

In this regard, Xiang Kang had no choice but to pray for the blessing of the gods. Don't let the main force of the Qin army on the Central Plains battlefield retreat to Guanzhong first, destroying his strategic plan to go straight to Xianyang.As for rushing to the city of Gaoguan before Qin Ting sent troops to reinforce it, Xiang Kang couldn't even think about it.

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Logically speaking, Li Cai is so desperately buying time for Qin Ting, Qin Ting should seize the opportunity to quickly dispatch troops, increase troops to defend the pass, and even start to recall the main force of Zhang Han and Wang Li, so as to stick to the fundamentals of Guanzhong. right.However, what Li Cai, who was working desperately on the front line, never dreamed was that at this moment in Xianyang City, most of the military and civilian officials in Xianyang did not know the bad news that Wuguan had fallen. Li Cai sent an urgent messenger back to Xianyang. Has been locked up in secret, and there is no way to contact outsiders at all!

The one who can do such a beautiful thing is of course Zhao Gao, the good teacher of Qin II Hu Hai. When he first received the news of the fall of Wuguan, Zhao Gao was out of his wits and planned to immediately dispatch the Qin court's last trump card, the Xianyang Lieutenant Army. Immediately dispatched to reinforce Gaoguan to prevent the young commander's army from entering the Guanzhong Plain, but after thinking about it, Zhao Gao immediately dismissed this idea.

Zhao Gao didn't dare to act rashly, because once he mobilized the lieutenant army defending Xianyang, Hu Hai would definitely ask why, and once Hu Hai knew that Wuguan had fallen, he would be furious again and hold all the officials accountable. Gao must be the first to bear the brunt. If someone took the opportunity to stir up trouble, Zhao Gao would not be able to keep his head, let alone the throne of the prime minister. Zhao Gao knew exactly how much the officials in the court hated Zhao Gao.

It is precisely because of this that Zhao Gao chose to temporarily block the news. He only told his younger brother Lang Zhongling Zhao Cheng and his son-in-law Yan Le about the situation. Zhao Cheng and Yan Le were also terrified. , Zhao Gao is likely to fall immediately, and he will also suffer disaster, so the two not only support Zhao Gao to temporarily block the news, but also ask Zhao Gao to find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Then, just like in history, the desperate Zhao Gao naturally had the idea of ​​killing Hu Hai, but he couldn't make up his mind for a while, couldn't muster up the courage, and didn't know how to deal with the aftermath after killing Hu Hai. Zhao Gao could only pretend to be sick and stay at home all day worrying.

It was also Zhao Gao's bad luck. When he pretended to be sick and could not go to court, an urgent report was sent from the Central Plains battlefield. The report said that Zhang Han's painstakingly built flood defense line was broken by the anti-Qin coalition forces, and Zhang Han was forced to abandon Chaoge and withdraw to Huai County. As a result, because Zhao Gao did not stop him in the court, the news was reported directly to Hu Hai. Hu Hai was startled and angry, and immediately sent someone to question Zhao Gao face to face, "It's urgent outside the customs, why hasn't the prime minister come to the court to be the master?" ?”

Crouching in front of the emissary, Zhao Gao repeatedly nodded, and promised to continue to govern the next day, so he sent the emissary away after he said something.But as soon as the envoy left, the porter suddenly came to report and said, "Prime Minister, there is a secret envoy outside the door who claims to be the right general of Chu State, and asks to meet you."

"Get out! I'm not seeing anyone now!"

Zhao Gao roared angrily, but when the door scrambled to leave, Zhao Gao's heart moved again, and he hurriedly shouted: "Stop! What did you just say? The secret envoy of Xiang Kang, the right general of the state of Chu, asked to see him?"

The door nodded hurriedly, and Zhao Gao immediately turned his anger into joy, and shouted: "What are you still doing? Invite him in right away! Also, if you issue a password ban, whoever dares to publicize this matter will be killed without pardon!"

After a while, a disciple of Shusuntong who was limped by the teacher was brought to Zhao Gao. After he showed his identity and purpose, he immediately presented the letter written by Xiang Kang to Zhao Gao. The letter promised that after the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, he would seal himself as a prince and eat three thousand households. He couldn't help being ecstatic, and hurriedly ordered people to take Shu Suntong's disciples to house arrest and treat him well, and then immediately found his own brother Zhao Cheng and his son-in-law, Yan Le, told them about Xiang Kang secretly sending an envoy to contact him.

He was the same as Zhao Gao, and seeing that Xiang Kang, who was very creditworthy, not only promised not to kill Zhao Gao, but also promised a heavy reward, Zhao Cheng and Yan Le both persuaded Zhao Gao to consider it in order to survive and preserve his glory and wealth.After careful consideration, Zhao Gao found Xiang Kang's messenger again, and asked the messenger to bring a message to Xiang Kang, asking Xiang Kang to divide the old land of Qin into two after the destruction of Qin, so that he and Xiang Kang could be separated. Kang each claimed the title of king, and promised that as long as Xiang Kang agreed, he would act as an internal response to Xiang Kang and help Xiang Kang destroy Qin.

After secretly sending away Xiang Kang's emissary, in addition to immediately arranging a regicide coup, Zhao Gao, who was not yet smart enough in the military, sent [-] Xianyang lieutenant troops south to Lantian for defense under the pretext of taking precautions, intending to stick to the defense. Gaoguan and Lantian forced Xiang Kang to agree to his conditions of cracking the soil and becoming king.

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At the same time, after struggling for a full seven days in the mountain road, Li Cai's troops, who did not receive any reinforcements, were finally consumed by the young marshal's army. It was to give up blocking and retreat to Yaoguan in embarrassment under the pursuit of the young commander.But even so, Li Cai still felt that his own army's sacrifice was not in vain, at least it seriously delayed the marching speed of the young commander's army, and bought enough time for the imperial court to respond. hope.

Because of this, one day later, after fleeing to the foot of Gaoguan City out of breath, Li Cai just saw Chen Qiu, a general of the Qin Army who had been guarding Gaoguan for many years, and Li Cai asked immediately, "Why is that?" How much more reinforcements did the court send to Gaoguan?"

"Reinforcements? Has the imperial court sent me more reinforcements?"

Chen Qiu's answer almost made Li Cai faint. Shocked, Li Cai yelled, "What? No reinforcements? Twelve days have passed since Wuguan fell, and the imperial court has not yet sent you any reinforcements. ?”

"General Li, you ask me, who should I ask?" Chen Qiu replied with a wry smile, "Since I received the news from you that Wuguan has fallen, I have been looking forward to the imperial court sending me reinforcements as soon as possible. But until now, the imperial court has not sent me any reinforcements."

Li Cai collapsed directly on the ground, and cried out loudly, crying loudly: "I have worked so hard to stop the bandit army and killed so many loyal and brave soldiers, why did I not receive any effect at all? What are you doing? What is the emperor doing? Guanzhong is already in such a critical situation, why haven’t reinforcements been sent to Gaoguan yet? Let my hard work be in vain, and my soldiers sacrifice in vain?”

Seeing that Li Cai was crying pitifully, Chen Qiu could only comfort him with kind words, urged Li Cai to go back to rest as soon as possible, and generously offered to let Li Cai's army station troops outside the north gate of Gaoguan, making him exhausted The extreme generals of Li Caijun rest assured.Li Cai had no choice but to accept Chen Qiu's kindness, and led the army to quickly cross Gaoguan to set up camp before the young general's pursuers arrived at Gaoguan, and at the same time sent people to Xianyang for emergency.

Contrary to General Li Cai who was in vain, when the sky was completely dark that day, the front team of the Young Marshal sent Xiang Kang the news that Qin Ting did not send reinforcements to Gaoguan, but Xiang Kang was too surprised to dare Trusting his ears, he asked repeatedly: "The Tyrant Qin court didn't send any reinforcements to Gaoguan? How is this possible? It has been [-] days since Wuguan was captured by us. Why hasn't the Tyrant Qin court sent reinforcements to Gaoguan? ?”

"General You, there really isn't any reinforcements sent by the Qin Dynasty outside the city of Gaoguan." The envoy of the front team said happily, "Our scouts have climbed the Mount Lu next to Gaoguan, and we can see clearly from the top of the mountain. Apart from the Tyrant Qin army in Guancheng and the Tyrant Qin army who fled back from the mountain pass, there is no sign of a Tyrant Qin army in the area around Yaoguan."

"General right, this is a rare opportunity." Uncle Zhou hurriedly said: "The last general suggested that we might as well divide the main force into two, one army protects the food, grass and supplies, and the other army rushes lightly, rushing to Gaoguan as soon as possible to prepare to attack the city , lest Ye Changmeng have many dreams, and the Tyrant Qin court suddenly sent reinforcements to Gaoguan."

As soon as Xiang Kang heard that he was in the middle of his arms, he immediately ordered the three generals Chao Zhi, Zheng Bu and Guan Ying to lead the rear army to protect the food, grass and supplies. The torches marched overnight, and managed to reach the outside of Gaoguan City at dawn the next day, and joined the front team led by Long Qie and Zhujishi, and before they even had time to set up the camp, they immediately ordered the army to cut down trees and hurry up Hurry up to build siege weapons, and plan to launch a siege in the afternoon of the same day.

The experienced young marshals moved very quickly. It took only half a day to build a lot of flying ladders, trench bridge cars and crash cars, and also made a lot of torches so that they could be captured at night, Xiang Kang, etc. Without hesitation, he first ordered the young generals to have a full meal of dry food, and then immediately summoned the young generals to arrange the siege tactics.But at this time, the soldiers suddenly came to report, saying that the Korean Situ Zhang Liang came with a few entourages on flying horses, and asked to meet Xiang Kang immediately.Xiang Kang was surprised and said, "Why is he here? What's the hurry?"

It's strange, but as a traveler, Xiang Kang immediately ordered Zhang Liang to be summoned. After a while, Zhang Liang, covered in dust, came in front of Xiang Kang, and complained to Xiang Kang as soon as they met: " General You, last night the foreign minister was just feeling unwell, and slept a little deeper, and didn't hear any movement outside the tent, why did you disappear when you opened your eyes?"

"Uncle, forgive me, the matter was too urgent last night, so I didn't have time to inform you." Xiang Kang pleaded guilty, and asked doubtfully, "Uncle, why did you catch up so quickly again? What's the hurry?"

"General You, you forgot that you promised me in Wuguan City that if you find out the name of the Wuguan guard of the Tyrant Qin army, you will tell the foreign ministers?" Zhang Liang asked back with some reproach, and then hurriedly asked: "How is it?" ? The guard general of the Qin Dynasty’s army hasn’t been replaced yet, right? Isn’t it Chen Qiu?”

Patting his forehead, Xiang Kang, who really forgot about it, hurriedly pleaded guilty to Zhang Liang, and then said: "That's right, our scouts have found out the exact information, the general guarding the gate of the Tyrant Qin army is what uncle you said Chen Qiu."

"That's great! It's true that the heavens are going to destroy Qin!" Zhang Liang clapped his hands excitedly, and hurriedly said, "Your general, the ministers think that you don't need to attack Gaoguan by force, and you should send envoys into the city to persuade Chen Qiu to take the initiative to open the city. Surrender, so that you can take Yaoguan without a single soldier!"

"Send envoys to persuade you to surrender?" Xiang Kang asked in surprise, "Are you sure? Nine and a half times out of ten times you do this, is it a waste of time?"

"Don't worry, General You, I'm absolutely sure." Zhang Liang nodded vigorously, and said, "Although the foreign ministers don't know Chen Qiu, the guard general of the Qin Dynasty's army, they know a lot about him. He is the son of a butcher. The military exploits have only come to this day, and he is very greedy for money. He is notorious for plucking wild goose and greedy. As long as a philistine like this is lured with huge profits, he will definitely surrender and surrender to you. General, let General Right take down Gaoguan Tianxian without a single soldier."

Seeing the famous Zhang Liang speak so confidently, Xiang Kang was a little moved, but the young generals didn't take it seriously, and even Uncle Zhou said: "Zhang Situ, although your suggestion is reasonable, but if it doesn't succeed, we may It would be a waste of time.”

"General You, I also think it's best to seize the opportunity to attack the city as soon as possible, and don't do anything unsure." Zhong Limei also said: "If the surrender fails, time is wasted, and the Qin Dynasty took the opportunity to send it to Gaoguan Reinforcements, it won’t be so easy for us to win Yaoguan again.”

Of course Zhongli Mo’s words made sense, and Xiang Kang was unavoidably shaken, but Zhang Liang cupped his hands and said, “Your General, the minister suggested that it’s better to try it out, the Left and Right Gates are right in front of you, and sending envoys into the city won’t waste too much money.” Time, general right, and your soldiers are exhausted, and the key points are difficult to attack, why not let your soldiers rest for a while while trying to surrender, and send troops to attack the city after the surrender fails, without delaying too much time."

Looking at the towering Gaoguan city wall in the distance, he thought about it for a moment, and found that even if he launched an attack immediately, he might not be able to take down the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack Gaoguan city in a single battle. Quite tired, Xiang Kang gritted his teeth, nodded and said: "Okay, don't rush to attack the city, and send someone to persuade that philistine Chen Qiu to surrender the city."

Fortunately, although he came in a hurry last night, Li Shiqi, a famous lobbyist who refused to accept the old, still insisted on following Xiang Kang to the front line to help Xiang Kang deal with military affairs. So he stood up and volunteered to persuade Chen Qiu to surrender in Kaesong for Xiang Kang.After Xiang Kang nodded in agreement, Zhang Liang immediately stepped forward, clung to Li Shiqi's ear, and whispered something...

Perhaps Xiang Kang should not listen to Zhang Liang's suggestion, and should seize the opportunity to attack the city immediately, because at the same time, a piece of good news was suddenly sent to the city of Gaoguan, which was waiting in full swing——Zhao Gao sent [-] Xianyang soldiers as a precautionary measure. The Lieutenant Army has arrived at Lantian, forty miles behind Gaoguan, this morning, and can come to reinforce Gaoguan at any time.Chen Qiu, the guard general of the Qin Army Pass, was overjoyed when he heard the news. In addition to immediately sending someone to inform the reinforcements of the situation at the pass and requesting reinforcements to come to reinforce the pass as soon as possible, he also strengthened his determination to guard the pass!

(End of this chapter)