Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 220 Capture the Gao Pass
Let's take a look at the situation on Chen Qiu's side. After arranging for people to send Li Shiqi away, Chen Qiu planned to go back to the headquarters of the Qin Army where he was staying, and gather a few reliable confidants to discuss the surrender of Kaesong. On the city wall, Chen Qiu met Li Cai, a general of the Qin Army who led his army back from Wuguan, and bumped into him face to face.

Since we met face to face by chance, Chen Qiu could only ask Li Cai why he came, and Li Cai said directly, "General Chen, I heard that Xiang Kang's traitor sent an envoy to contact you, so I came here. Looking at the situation, I would venture to ask, why did the bandit army send envoys into the city?"

"Of course it was a daydream, trying to persuade me to surrender." Chen Qiu didn't hide anything, and then said brazenly: "I scolded you and left, just left."

"Aside from persuading him to surrender, did Xiang Kang's emissary say anything else?" Li Cai asked worriedly, and then said, "Don't blame General Chen, he will be the one who has suffered a lot, so I have to remind you In a word, Xiang Kang is really too treacherous. Before in Wuguan, he used a forged letter fabricated out of thin air to stir up internal strife in our Daqin army. The final general is really afraid that he will repeat his old tricks, and he will play despicable things again. It's a trick, so I have to ask a few more questions."

"It's okay, General Li, you are also thinking about me, how can I blame you?" Chen Qiu waved his hands carelessly, and then said: "But general, don't worry, the bandit envoy didn't say anything or play anything other than persuading him to surrender. pattern."

At present, I still trust Chen Qiu. After hearing this, Li Cai felt a little relieved, but after seeing the package in the hands of Chen Qiu's soldiers, Li Cai hesitated for a moment, and said: "General Chen, if the final general does not If you guessed wrong, the package should be a gift from Xiang Kang, right? To tell you the truth, the general said that when he was in Wuguan, Xiang Kang sent someone to persuade the general to surrender, and also gave the general some gold and jade. Although it was accepted, it was all exchanged for Qin Banliang and given to the soldiers. The last general dared to persuade the general to do the same as the last general, so as to inspire the soldiers' morale and declare the general's determination to live and die with Gaoguan."

"Mind your own business! Your Li family has been officials for generations, and your family has plenty of money. Of course, you don't like the gift that General You gave you, but I was born in the head of Guizhou. Can you compare with the Li family?"

Chen Qiu felt a little angry in his heart, and his tone suddenly became a little stiff, he said: "Thank you, General Li, for your guidance, I will naturally hand over the gifts that the bandits used to bribe me to the Great Qin court, and you don't need the general to worry about me."

After saying that, Chen Qiu led his own soldiers and walked away. He didn't bother to pay attention to Li Cai, who was meddling in other matters. Li Cai looked at his back with worry in his heart, and secretly said: "Talk more about Chen Qiu's greed for money. It seems that this matter If the bandits seize this weakness of his and lure him with huge profits, maybe he will really be tempted. No, I have to pay more attention to this matter and find a way to keep an eye on him secretly. he."

Not to mention Li Cai's worries about Chen Qiu, but to say that after Chen Qiu returned to the Qin Army headquarters in a fit of anger, he first carefully hid the gold and jade objects that Xiang Kang gave him, and then he plucked the feathers of the iron cock so that the servants at home He prepared some wine and meat, and then, on the grounds of discussing the war of guarding the pass, he invited a few cronies he had cultivated in the garrison of Wuguan to drink with them, while carefully testing their attitude towards the surrender of the young marshal.

Chen Qiu also played around the bush. First, he had a symbolic discussion with a few cronies about defense tactics, and then he quickly brought the topic up to the future, and said with a sigh: "We really don't know how to fight this battle." Are you sure you can win the battle? Although the imperial court sent us [-] reinforcements, you also know the situation of the reinforcements. They are basically recruits who have never been on the battlefield. The mob who fought against Zhang Chu's rebels was extremely difficult. Not to mention fighting against elite soldiers of Chu thieves who have experienced hundreds of battles. The situation of our guards at Yiguan is even worse. For more than ten years, we have not even fought a real battle with real swords and guns. Regarding this, do you know? What do you think?"

To Chen Qiu's disappointment, several of his cronies probably didn't understand his hint, and they all cupped their hands and said, "Don't worry, general. Although our soldiers have not been trained in actual combat, we only need to work together and hold the city together. With the determination to perish the city and people to perish, relying on the natural dangers of Gaoguan and the fortification of the city, we will definitely be able to defeat the rebels and keep the city.”

"A bunch of idiots." Chen Qiu cursed inwardly, but refused to give up and asked: "What if you still can't keep it?"

"Even if we can't hold it, we will fight until the last soldier!" A confidant immediately replied: "Yaoguan is the last barrier in the Guanzhong Plain. Behind us are our parents, wives and children, and the hometown of the villagers. If we If we can’t shed the last drop of blood for them, even if we evacuate to Guanzhong, we won’t have the face to see our parents, relatives, and compatriots in our hometown.”

"That's right!" Several other cronies echoed one after another, saying, "Jiu Jiu Lao Qin, there is no one who is greedy for life and afraid of death! For our parents and relatives, no matter how difficult this battle is, we will never take a step back !"

Unexpectedly, several of his cronies are so stubborn. Chen Qiu, of course, did not dare to pierce the last window paper under the accident. Several cronies became more and more enthusiastic as they talked, and they also volunteered to lead the army out of the city to guard the sheep and horse wall position under the city when the young commander's army launched an attack on the city. Determination and courage in the face of powerful enemies.Chen Qiu secretly groaned in his heart, but he still forced a smile on his face, and kept praising the loyalty and courage of his cronies, which was extremely inappropriate.

At this time, it was completely dark, and the guards at the north and south gates of Gaoguan also sent people to report one after another, saying that the north gate of Gaoguan had been closed, and the guards at the north and south gates had also been rotated. For the sake of consideration, they all suggested that Chen Qiu go to the city to inspect the situation of the defenders in person, and they all expressed their willingness to go with Chen Qiu to inspect the military situation, but Chen Qiu said casually: "I will go by myself in a while, let's finish the meal first."

The few confidantes had no choice but to follow Chen Qiu's instructions and accompany Chen Qiu to finish dinner before getting up and leaving. Chen Qiu didn't see them off, but immediately ordered after they left: "Prepare the hot soup, I want to wash up. rest."

"General, are you not going to the city to inspect the military situation?" the captain of the personal army asked cautiously.

"You're still on patrol, you don't know what's going on during the day?" Chen Qiu scolded in a low voice, and besides urging the captain of the guards to prepare hot water for himself, he said anxiously in his heart: "It's troublesome. The bastards are so stubborn, how should I surrender the city now?"

Fortunately, after all, Chen Qiu was the general guarding the gate. Even if he couldn't convince his generals to join hands with him and lead the army to surrender, it was not difficult to open the city gate quietly. So after lying on the bed and pondering for a long time, Chen Qiu gradually took After making up his mind, he secretly said: "It can only be like this. After sending someone out of the city tomorrow, General You will contact him and ask him to prepare in advance. Then at the third watch tomorrow night, I will quietly open the city gate with my own soldiers to welcome you. The general’s soldiers and horses entered the city. Although the credit for doing so is small, but at least I have fulfilled what I promised the right general, and the reward that the right general promised me should also be indispensable.”

After quietly making up his mind on this idea, Chen Qiu, who was completely relieved, fell asleep quickly. At the same time, because there were no generals going to the city to inspect and supervise, the soldiers of the Qin Army not only were extremely slack in guard at night, but also leaned on the He yawned and fell asleep on the arrow stack, but as time went by, the drowsiness and drowsiness became more and more serious, and even the patrol teams of the Qin army who were patrolling back and forth got lazy and found a sheltered place to sit down and take a nap. The surveillance under the city is completely useless.

Of course, the young generals, who were determined to catch everyone by surprise, would not miss such a good opportunity. Just after midnight, a group of dark shadows sneaked up to the edge of the moat at the south gate of the Guanguan. Under the cover of night, Carrying more than a dozen flying ladders, they crossed the bridge on the moat lightly, and directly touched the south gate of Yiguan. It is effortless to climb to the top of Yaoguan city.

Up to this moment, the soldiers of the Qin army on this section of the wall are still sleeping soundly, and soon in their sleep, their mouths were covered suddenly, and they were stabbed into the heart by a sharp knife. They died without making a sound. The black shadow at the bottom held a piece in his mouth, and continued to climb up the ladder. With the support of his companions, he climbed up to the top of the city one after another, and quickly controlled a large area of ​​the top of the city.At the same time, more black shadows also carried more flying ladders over the moat, and put more flying ladders on the top of Gaoguan city...

It was only after more than 200 black shadows touched the head of Gaoguan City that a soldier of the Qin Army who was awakened by urination realized that something was wrong and hurriedly rang the alarm gong, but it was too late at this time. With the sound of the gong, the soldiers of the Young Commander who had already boarded the city immediately launched a strong attack, cutting down as many soldiers as possible of the surrounding Qin Army. The moat, while climbing the city with a flying ladder, directly hits the gate of Yiguan.

The sound of more gongs soon resounded through the south gate of Gaoguan, and the shouts of killing also spread into Guanzhong. However, it is a pity that because Chen Qiu did not deploy a mobile army at night, the people in Guancheng Although the generals and soldiers of the Qin Army were also awakened quickly, none of the troops could quickly complete the assembly and immediately rushed to the South Gate Battlefield for reinforcements.The soldiers of the Young Marshal seized the opportunity to quickly go to the city, hacked and killed the defenders who were also caught off guard, and set fire to the south gate tower of Gaoguan with the torches of the defenders, causing chaos among the soldiers of the Qin Army who lived in the tower.

At this time, Chen Qiu had already been awakened by the captain of his personal army. He heard the sound of killing from the direction of the south gate in a daze. Chen Qiu also shouted in disbelief, "How is that possible? I have already promised to surrender to the right general." Why did he come to sneak attack Yaoguan?"

No one was able to answer Chen Qiu's question. On the contrary, out of the habit of fighting for many years, Chen Qiu subconsciously yelled: "Quick! Quick! Blow the horn and gather the troops! Send Yan Ke to order him to lead the army immediately." The army goes to the city for reinforcements!"

The soldiers agreed, and they were about to fly out to deliver the order, but Chen Qiu immediately shouted: "Wait a minute, wait!"

When he was about to order the soldiers to turn around in doubt, the captain of the soldiers hurriedly asked, "General, what happened? Why didn't you blow the horn and send reinforcements?"

"Did you forget the handwritten letter I wrote to General You today?" Chen Qiu said with a sad face, "If we defend the city tonight and ruin General You's good deeds, General You will hand over my letter to General You in a fit of anger. Imperial court, do you still want the heads of my family?"

The captain of the personal army came to his senses and hurriedly asked: "General, what should we do now?"

Chen Qiu hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "I have to hide, and I won't see anyone. If anyone comes to ask, you can say that I went to the city to patrol the night defense."

In this way, when the south gate of Gaoguan was already in dire straits, Chen Qiu, the general guard of Gaoguan of the Qin Army, hid his head and the reward promised by Xiang Kang with a few confidants in his treasury , and sent the remaining soldiers to guard the gate of the Qin Army headquarters, and asked a few reliable soldiers to come forward, claiming to the generals of the Qin Army who rushed to wait for orders that they had gone to the city to inspect the military situation, and let Qin The army will go to the city wall to find themselves.

As a result, it will naturally suffer for the poor guards of Gaoguan. Although several armies have already assembled in a hurry, but without Chen Qiu's order, none of the troops dared to rush to the south gate of Gaoguan for reinforcements. The generals of the army sent countless people to the city to look for Chen Qiu, but there was no trace of Chen Qiu, and they were all sweating profusely, but no one could do anything.

In the end, there was really no other way. The Qin Army's Yan Ke Division, which was closest to the south gate of Gaoguan, could only make arbitrarily assertive claims, and led the army to the south gate of Gaoguan for reinforcements without Chen Qiu's consent.But it was too late at this time, not only had more than a thousand young commanders and soldiers charged up the city wall, basically controlling the front of the south gate of Yaoguan, but also smashed the city gate to the point of collapse, and several people appeared. No matter how desperately the soldiers of the Qin army fought, they had no hope of regaining the top of the city. They could only hold on to the city gate desperately, struggling desperately to buy time for reinforcements.

The Qin army may still have hope, because they couldn't find Chen Qiu, and the defenders at the north gate of Gaoguan also made their own proposals. They opened the north gate of Gaoguan in the middle of the night, and let the urgently dispatched Qin army Li Cai's troops enter the city for reinforcements. It turned out that although the generals and soldiers of the Qin Army had assembled into an army with torches, there were not many troops fighting at the south gate. Of course, Li Cai's stomach almost exploded. Yelling wildly at the generals of the Qin army waiting in front of the gate, "Are you crazy? The bandit army has already rushed to the top of the south gate of Gaoguan. You haven't brought your troops to reinforce the battlefield at the south gate, and you are still waiting here to eat ?!"

"General Li, you can't blame us for this." The generals of the Qin army cried out for grievances, and said with a mournful face: "It is General Chen who has disappeared. No one gave the order. None of us dare to lead the army to the city without authorization."

"General Chen is gone, why not?" Li Cai was taken aback, but when he asked that Chen Qiu disappeared after going to the city for inspection, Li Cai was still worried, and secretly said: "Chen Qiu's luck is not good. Just happened to be bumped into by the thief army who was attacking, and was killed by the thief army?"

There was nothing to worry about. After a little calculation, Li Cai hurriedly yelled at the generals of the Qin army: "There can be no master in the army! Now that General Chen is missing, I will give you the command. Are you willing to obey orders?" ?”

"I would like to listen to the general's orders!"

All the generals of the Qin army clasped their fists together and answered loudly. Li Cai nodded, and then immediately ordered the Qin army to directly reinforce the south gate of Gaoguan, and then sent two troops to go up the city from the east and west of Gaoguan, flanking the two wings of the Dengcheng young commander's army from left to right. Lead the headquarters as the general reserve team.

Li Cai's prompt decision played a certain role. With the help of the reinforcements, the soldiers of the Qin Army still firmly guarded the south gate of Yaoguan, preventing the soldiers of the young commander from knocking down the gate and directly entering the city. There are too many debts, and the top of the south gate has been completely lost. The soldiers of the young generals still rushed to the south gate of the city relying on the ladder, not only firmly defending the top of the city, but also began to attack the gate of the gate. The city leaders in the east and west launched an attack, killing the soldiers of the Qin army who had rushed to the city for reinforcements.At the same time, seeing that the city gate could not be opened, the young commander immediately changed his strategy and began to pile up firewood under the city gate, setting fire to the city gate directly, but the Qin army could not directly pour water from the city to put out the fire, so they could only keep rushing towards the city gate. Splashing water on it will delay the burning of the city gate.

In the chaos, it was of course difficult for the soldiers of the Qin Army to ensure the water supply inside the city gate. In addition, the officers and soldiers of the Young Commander also cleverly used the defense weapons left by the Qin Army to continuously drop rocks and trees from the city wall to stop the Qin Army. Carrying water to extinguish the fire, at the fourth watch, the solid city gate at the south gate of Guanguan was finally reduced to ashes in the raging fire, revealing the gate corridor leading directly into the city.

I must also praise the courage of the soldiers of the Qin Army. Seeing that the city gate was destroyed by fire, the soldiers of the Qin Army who had nothing to defend simply summoned up their courage and launched a countercharge, trying to kill the soldiers of the Young Marshal outside the city and destroy the soldiers of the Young Marshal. The army climbed the city ladder to cover the friendly army and regain the position at the head of the city.However, such brave soldiers of the Qin Army soon discovered that their thinking was too naive. In front of the experienced young generals, their counterattack was purely moths to the flame, and no matter how hard they struggled, they were useless. As a result, not only could they not shake the position of the young generals, but they were quickly defeated by the young generals, and they were forced to retreat back to the city gate. The sky is dim and the earth is dark, the sun and the moon have no light.

When the situation of the battle at the South Gate was reported to Li Cai, Li Cai, who was behind the gate, immediately understood that it was difficult to keep the Yi Pass. However, out of duty, Li Cai still sent someone to order the Qin Army's various ministries to ask the Qin Army to He will lead the soldiers of the Qin Army to continue the battle to the death, and at the same time send people to contact the Xianyang Lieutenant Army who has arrived in Lantian, in an attempt to persist in street fighting until the reinforcements arrive, and regain the last barrier of the Guanzhong Plain, Yaoguan.

In the face of absolute strength, no matter how desperately struggling, it was useless. In the middle of the fourth watch, first the east wall of Yaoguan fell, and then the west wall also fell. The soldiers of the army also charged from the steps of the upper city to meet the friendly army and entered the city from the city gate, and successfully covered the friendly army to break through the Qin army's defense line inside the city gate. , Countless soldiers yelled and fled into the interior of Guancheng.

This is not over yet, after successfully capturing the east and west of Gaoguan, the officers and men of the young commander still refused to give up, and launched an attack along the city wall towards the south gate of Gaoguan. When Chen Qiu found this situation, In the shock, he did not dare to hesitate, and quickly sent troops to reinforce the Nanmen City of Yaoguan to take the position, lest the Nanmen fall and the Qin army was caught by the young commander.

When the fifth watch arrived, the defeat of the Qin army was fully revealed. All the troops were either directly defeated by the young commander, or fled to the south gate of Gaoguan on their own. The handsome army catches the turtle in the urn.Li Cai's heart was twisted like a knife, but he had no choice but to nod his head, but when he was about to retreat, Li Cai suddenly remembered something, hurriedly pointed to the Qin Army headquarters next to him, and shouted: "Light on the fire, put the It is burned here, and there are countless important documents of our Daqin army hidden in it, and it cannot be left to the bandits!"

Li Cai's soldiers agreed, and immediately rushed in with torches to set fire, but Chen Qiu's soldiers guarding the door panicked and shouted, "Don't burn, don't burn!"

In the panic, one of Chen Qiu's soldiers shouted out of nowhere, "Don't burn it! Our General Chen is still inside!"

"What?!" Li Cai's shock was no small matter, and he hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Chen Qiu's personal soldier, and shouted, "Your general Chen is inside? Didn't your general Chen disappear after going to the city to patrol? Why now? Just inside this? Say it quickly, or I will kill you!"

Unable to withstand Li Cai's lust, Chen Qiu's soldiers could only say with a sad face: "General, it's none of my business! General Chen asked us to do this. He hid himself inside and didn't want to come out, so he told us to stay inside." I'm lying to you here."

"Fuck!" Li Cai was so angry that he almost vomited blood, and shouted, "Where is he hiding? Take me to see him immediately!"

Persecuted by Li Cai, Chen Qiu's soldiers could only lead the way obediently, and led Li Cai to the door of the money bank where Chen Qiu was hiding. After entering the room to search, Li Cai, who was holding a sword in his hand, quickly saw by the light of the torch that Chen Qiu, who had disappeared before, was hiding behind a large pile of cash boxes with a few of his confidants!
At this moment, Li Cai couldn't help laughing out loud, and laughed out loud with great grief and indignation: "You man! You did a good job!"

Chen Qiu also felt that his death would not be miserable enough, and in extreme fear, Chen Qiu replied that Li Cai already knew all the truth, and shouted in despair: "General Li, don't act recklessly! As long as you let me go, I will give you a break." Custodian takes you to see General You of Chu State, begging him to spare you from death! Give you the same reward as me!"

"What?!" Li Cai was shocked again, and then suddenly realized, laughing maniacally: "Okay! It turns out that you are deliberately hiding from the army because you secretly surrendered to the bandit army! Let me just say, like you How could such a shameless villain who is greedy for money and profit so readily reject the bandit army's offer to surrender?"

Laughing wildly, Li Cai swung his sword and roared, "Take them down!"

Li Cai's soldiers immediately rushed forward, quickly hacked to death Chen Qiu's soldiers who tried to resist, and took Chen Qiu down. Chen Qiu struggled and cried, "General Li, spare me! Spare me! As long as you spare me, the people here The money is all yours, it’s all yours! And the reward that General You gave me, I’ll give it all to you too! I’ll give it all to you!”

Li Cai didn't say a word, just opened a cash box casually, revealing Qin Banliang, which was full of Qin Banliang. Stuffing it into Chen Qiu's mouth, he roared with red eyes: "Aren't you greedy for money? Aren't you greedy for money? I let you be greedy, one is enough! One is enough!"

Chen Qiu whimpered, with snot and tears gushing together, shaking his head and begging desperately to struggle, but handfuls of copper coins were stuffed into his mouth one after another, and were used by Li Cai and his soldiers again. The hilt of the sword dug hard into his stomach until his limbs gradually stopped twitching and his stomach bulged.

On that day, Chen Qiu, the general guard of the Qin Army's Gaoguan who was so greedy for money that even Tai Shigong couldn't help but record it, was supported to death by the money he had amassed. The young commander's army captured Guanzhong, and the Qin army in Guanzhong no longer had natural dangers to defend. The road for the young commander's army to enter Xianyang was flat, and the prosperous and prosperous Guanzhong Plain was like a fat lamb, completely exposed to the young commander's army. Under the butcher's knife of a hungry tiger.

(End of this chapter)