Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 278
Zhiguan, the throat of Zhidao, the first branch of Taihang, as early as the Warring States Period, was already an important obstacle for Wei State to resist Qin State.

The dark clouds of war once again enveloped this famous juncture in the Central Plains. The Han army fought shamelessly without declaring it. They suddenly crossed Zhongtiao Mountain, crossed the Yuanqu Pavilion, and forcibly set foot in Hanoi County controlled by Henan King Sima Ang. The news has just been guarded. The Henan soldiers sent back to Zhiguan on fast horses. Immediately there was turmoil inside and outside Zhiguan. Businessmen and travelers hurriedly fled the pass to avoid the flames of war. All irrelevant people, etc., kept yelling, and the crying sounds of children and mothers were heard from time to time among the panicked crowd, and the atmosphere was like the end of the day.

Although he was killed by the Han army and was caught off guard, the Henan king Sima Ang also fell into the shameless trick of the Han army and did not send reinforcements to Zhiguan in advance, but Liu A, the general of the Henan army who is currently in charge of guarding Zhiguan, He didn't panic, on the contrary, he was still gearing up, looking forward to the upcoming battle, hoping to make great achievements in this battle, so that his rank could be increased by one or two hundred stones.

Liu A also has the capital to dare to challenge the Han army. Although he has no more than a thousand troops and is not particularly well-equipped, the terrain of Zhiguan is too dangerous. The narrowest part of the road between two mountains is only eight. meters, the attacker simply cannot deploy its forces, and more than a thousand troops are enough to stand by for long-term reinforcements.

In addition, Liu Ah's confidence lies in the reinforcements that are close at hand. At Pingyin Ferry, just south of Zhiguan, there are [-] elite Henan troops stationed for a long time. It only takes half a day to go north to Zhiguan for reinforcements , In addition, the county soldiers of Heyong and Yewang can also send troops to rescue in a short time. Even if it takes some time to send people to warn and gather reinforcements to prepare for the war, the defenders of Zhiguan only need to defend for a day at most. Wait for reinforcements.

In addition, the conscientiousness of the Henan soldiers also won extremely valuable contingency time for the Zhiguan garrison. Before this, although the Han army and the Henan army had never had any friction and conflicts, for the sake of caution, Liu A had no choice but to fight at the border of Hanoi County. In addition to the sentry guards on the ground, a secret agent was placed in the Yuanqu Pavilion controlled by the Han Army. The fast horse sent the alarm at the first time, which not only gave the Zhiguan defenders enough time to prepare for the battle, but also allowed Liu A to send a rescue messenger a few hours in advance, which further shortened the time for the Zhiguan defenders to fight alone.

These objective advantages made Liu A full of confidence in guarding the pass. Just after completing the work of sealing off the pass, Liu A immediately summoned two five hundred masters and ten hundred leaders under his command to assign specific tasks for guarding the pass, and arranged He recruited [-] precious cavalrymen and let them be responsible for detecting the enemy's situation and sending messages back and forth, so that he can grasp the specific movements of the Han army at any time, and calmly welcome the battle.

But Liu A was quite shocked by the pre-war preparations of the Han army. When it was almost noon, there was a report from a fast horse, saying that the Han army divided up its own troops during the attack, and about [-] troops were allocated to go ahead lightly. They rushed towards Zhiguan at a high speed, and then scouts reported that they clearly saw dozens of portable flying ladders made of moso bamboo in the Han army's team, which was long enough to directly reach the wall of Zhiguan.Liu A was unavoidably surprised when he heard this, and said, "In such a short period of time, where did the Han bandit army get so many moso bamboos of suitable length to make flying ladders? It is impossible for the Han bandits to bring the siege weapons directly from Anyi, right?" ?”

"General Liu, there should be only one possibility." Li Ji, one of the lieutenants, said, "It's the flying ladder secretly prepared by the Han bandits in Yuanqu."

"Shameless dog thief! It seems that they have been wanting to sneak attack Zhiguan for a long time!" Liu A woke up and cursed, and then said with a grinning smile: "But if you want to take dozens of flying ladders to take Zhiguan, so do the Han thieves. Daydreaming! This general wants to see how the Chinese thieves can make use of their superiority in this terrain."

"General, the city of Zhiguan is too small, and we can't deploy our troops." Another five hundred Lord of the Henan Army suggested: "The road to the west of Zhiguan is narrow, so it would be a pity to give up like this. There is still a little time, let the general lead his troops to rush to repair a wall at the narrow road, build an outer barrier for Zhiguan, and buy as much time as possible for our reinforcements."

It is worthy of praise. Although he was just an unknown pawn at the end of Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Han Dynasty, Liu A, the guard of Zhiguan, was obviously more cautious than his master Henan Wang Simaang. He immediately said: "We can't take risks. Our troops are too weak. Temporary fortifications not only won’t buy much time, but the Han thieves may take the opportunity to weaken our troops outside the city, so it’s better to let the troops take turns to go to the city and defend the pass with all their strength.”

After vetoing the suggestion of his subordinates going out of the city to establish a buffer, Liu Ah took precautions and ordered the Zheguan defenders to immediately make dry food and torches to meet the Han army's possible overnight attack. Inspire the morale of the army and wait calmly for the arrival of the Han army.

The time to come has finally come. The application time is about to expire. The [-] Han army front team led by General Zhou Shu of the Han Army has successfully arrived outside the west gate of Zhiguan. Take a short rest, take the time to eat and drink water, and restore your strength.Liu A also went to the city for the first time to check the situation of the Han army in person, but after seeing that there was nothing special about the lineup of the Han army, Liu A sneered and said: "I heard that Uncle Zhou is the love of Xiang Kang's dog thief." General, it only took five days to wipe out the main force of the Western Wei Dynasty and force Wei King Wei Bao to surrender. He thought it was a big deal, but now it seems that he is no different from other generals."

General Uncle Zhou of the Han Army was more mediocre than Liu Ah expected. Knowing that time was precious, the Zheguan garrison must have sent a messenger for help to the surrounding Henan Army troops. Uncle Zhou still let the soldiers of the Han Army rest for nearly an hour, and then Only then did they arrange long shields to cover the crossbowmen and set up two rows of temporary fortifications outside the west gate of Zhiguan to cover the crossbowmen and shoot arrows to cover the siege of the city. As a result, when the Han army completed this deployment, the sky was almost completely dark , It is difficult to see things, which makes it more difficult for the Han army to fight away.

Uncle Zhou's arrangement has only one advantage, that is, when the light is dim, it is difficult for the Zheguan defenders to effectively suppress the Han army's attack with bows and arrows. Fortunately, Liu A is also quite experienced, and he ordered the Zheguan defenders to prepare enough straw torches on the city. As soon as the Han army launched an attack on the city, the straw bundles were lit and thrown down the city wall. This not only set the fire on fire, but also allowed the defenders to effectively kill and injure the attacking Han army, and also created smoke to increase the difficulty of the Han army's siege.

When it was completely dark, the Han army finally began to formally attack the city. Three hundred first-climbing warriors carried light ladders carefully built for the city wall of Zhiguan, and went forward in a team of ten people, directly attacking the passage of Zhiguan under the cover of night. The gate guards ordered by Liu A to throw a large number of ignited grass bundles for lighting, while concentrating bows and crossbows to cover the bridge crossing the river, caused many casualties to the Han soldiers who had to cross the bridge to touch the gate wall. , At the same time, pay special attention to the protection of the closed gates, so as not to give the Han soldiers the opportunity to destroy the city gates.

After paying a certain price of death and injury, several flying ladders successfully climbed the city wall of Zhiguan. The warriors of the Han army who ascended the stairs suddenly threw a few black objects, tumbling and hitting the top of the wall in a parabola, and before the defenders figured out what happened, thunderstorms struck the city of Zhiguan one after another. Explosion!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

It is difficult to transmit news in this era. The Chai Wu army, who had tasted the pain of gunpowder before, was almost wiped out in the Qinling Mountains. None of the soldiers of the Henan Army guarding Zhiguan had heard of the original grenade of the Han army. The army's original grenade was completely blown up, his soul was scattered, and he kept screaming, "What's wrong? That's something? The Chinese thief has sorcery? Why did the thunder suddenly strike?!"

"Dong dong dong dong dong!"

It was also at this time that the earth-shattering sound of war drums suddenly sounded in the formation of the Han army. The sound of war drums, accompanied by primitive grenades that exploded from time to time, immediately dealt a huge psychological blow to the soldiers of the Henan army. Climbing warriors took the opportunity to shout up and climb quickly. Only for the first charge, some warriors successfully rushed to the top of the wall!
When fighting in close quarters, the advantages of the Han army's equipment were immediately revealed. The soldiers of the Han army wearing good female rhinoceros armor carried steel knives and slashed and killed the soldiers of the Henan army with poor equipment like chopping melons and vegetables. The soldiers of the Henan Army who had their guts blown out were flustered and backed away in panic, not daring to step forward to besiege the Han warriors who had successfully ascended the city.

The one who was gutted by the original grenade was Liu A, the general of the Henan Army who commanded the battle in Guancheng. After the Han army warriors had already ascended the city in large numbers, the dizzy Liu A came back to his senses and quickly dispatched a reserve team to the city for rescue. , but seeing the soldiers of the Henan Army rushing towards the city wall with torches, the warriors of the Han Army who had already rushed up the city wall immediately threw a few primitive grenades, blowing up the reinforcements of the Henan Army into chaos, screaming and fleeing, and their morale dropped directly. At the extreme, he no longer had the courage to rush to the city wall for reinforcements.

The pass city of Zhiguan is indeed too small. After more than 100 Han warriors rushed up the city wall, most of the west gate position of Zhiguan was controlled by the Han army. The Ximen Tower not only caused the Henan soldiers in the tower to jump into the city to flee for their lives, but also directly ignited the Ximen Tower. The Ximen Tower at Zhiguan quickly smoked and caught fire, losing its role as a Tibetan soldier and guard.

"kill!"

More warriors of the Han army shouted to kill. While climbing the city directly through the flying ladder, they lifted the bumper and hit the west gate of Zhiguan directly. However, Zheguan Ximen was still quickly slammed, and the door latch was cracked.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Ah summoned up his courage and personally brought the soldiers of the Henan Army who had entered the city from the east gate to rescue them. A batch of reinforcements quickly exploded, ceramic fragments flew across the room, and stabbed Liu Ah's cheek, causing blood to flow profusely on Liu Ah's face, and also affected the morale of the Henan Army even more.

The more troublesome thing is still to come. After more and more soldiers of the Han army rushed to the city wall, they also used local materials, lit the grass bundles prepared by the Henan army before, and threw them into the pass city, setting fire to the houses in the pass. Houses also continued to catch fire, adding to the chaos of the Henan Army.

Still relying on the original grenade to open the way, a group of Han soldiers rushed into the city from the steps of the upper city, and also rushed into the city gate corridor to kill the gatekeepers. Then rushed into the city.

As soon as the city gate was broken, the suspense of the outcome of the Zhiguan battlefield was completely lost. The Han army not only had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, but also had an absolute advantage in terms of weapons and equipment. The escaped soldiers of the Henan Army were so chopped up that they cried for their father and mother, screaming continuously, and then went straight to the east gate. The defenders of the east gate of the Henan Army didn't even have the courage to resist a little, and they scrambled to escape from Guancheng. The momentum was like a broken bamboo, and he rushed directly out of the east gate of Zhiguan, and took advantage of the victory to kill the Henan army's rear team stationed outside the east gate of Zhiguan.

Outside the city, the soldiers of the Henan Army only resisted for a little more than a moment, and then they were killed by more and more soldiers of the Han Army. Countless people put down their weapons and surrendered. A was beheaded and killed by the soldiers of the Han army in the chaos, and the Zheguan defenders were completely disintegrated. It took only more than an hour for the Han army to take the Zheguan important place in one fell swoop, and basically annihilated the Zheguan defenders of the Henan Army.

In the middle of the night, the rear of the Han army successfully arrived at the Zhiguan battlefield. Uncle Zhou quickly dispatched troops and arranged for more than 1000 troops and wounded soldiers to stay at Zhiguan. Then he took the initiative to go south with [-] troops in the early morning of the next day, and went straight to Henan. The army came to Pingyin Ferry, another important military site.

The next morning at about [-] o'clock, the Han army who went south and the [-] Henan Army Pingyin garrison who went north to rescue Zhiguan encountered in the wilderness. Seeing the Han army coming fiercely, the Henan army reinforcements did not dare to neglect, and immediately formed an array to meet the enemy. Uncle Zhou But he made a decisive decision and immediately ordered five hundred soldiers to launch a death attack, using shields to cover the bombers and throwing primitive grenades.The result was just as Uncle Zhou expected. Although the Henan Army had received the report of the defeated soldiers and knew that the Han Army had a terrifying weapon that would make a loud noise, and the lethality of the original grenade was actually very small, dozens of grenades were thrown at the Henan Army one after another. After the explosion in the dense queue of soldiers, the soldiers of the Henan Army were still in chaos immediately, screaming and fleeing in all directions. Uncle Zhou took the opportunity to order a general attack and hit the Henan Army's battle formation head-on.

There is still no suspense in the battle. Although the Henan Army who came to reinforce from Pingyin Ferry is more elite than the Zheguan garrison, its strength and equipment are still at a disadvantage, and it was frightened by the primitive golden finger grenades of the Han Army. Courage to fight the Han army to the end.In the face of the heroic attack of the generals of the Han army, the main force of the central army of the Henan army, which had received special attention, collapsed first, and then the two wings were also defeated almost at the same time. In the wilderness, there were also a large number of tragedies that trampled each other to death. The morale of the soldiers of the Han army was like a rainbow, and they chased for nearly twenty miles in one breath before stopping to take a rest.

While resting on the spot, Uncle Zhou gathered the army first, arranged for [-] troops to clean the battlefield and capture prisoners of war, and then decided to continue going south, taking advantage of the victory to capture Pingyin Ferry of the Henan Army.As a result, it was also at this time that Li Bicai, a young general of the Han army promoted by Uncle Zhou, questioned: "General Zhou, is it too much? The task given to us by the King of Han is to pretend to attack Hanoi and lure Sima Yang's bandits to go north for reinforcements. If we continue After capturing Pingyin Ferry and cutting off Sima Ang’s route to the north, will there be no way to complete the errand assigned by the King of Han?”

"You don't understand." Uncle Zhou said with a smile, "If we pretend to attack Hanoi, if we don't take advantage of the enemy's lack of preparation and take the important place of Pingyindu with all our strength, let alone that old fox Li Zuoche, it will be that reckless Sima Ang." The husband can also see that we are feigning an attack, preparing to cover our main force and launch a frontal attack. If we want him to fall into the trap and dispatch heavy troops to rescue Hanoi, our only way is to attack with all our strength and beat Sima Ang completely. Only then will he believe that our main attack direction is in Hanoi, and send his main force to Hanoi for reinforcements."

Li Bi suddenly realized, and hurriedly said: "General Zhou, so you want to take Pingyin Ferry first, trick Sima Ang's main force to Pingyin, and then deliberately give up the ferry to lure Sima Ang to cross the river with all his strength?"

"Of course not." Uncle Zhou shook his head again, and said with a smile: "You will know exactly what we should do in due time. In short, if we want to deceive Mr. Sima Yong completely, we still have to fight several tough battles."

After deliberately selling off, Uncle Zhou didn't even send scouts to find the way, and didn't waste time waiting for the enemy's news from the flanks. He immediately led the soldiers of the Han army to the south quickly and headed towards Pingyindu, an important military site of the Henan army, without hesitation. And before sunset that afternoon, they arrived at Pingyindu battlefield smoothly.The Henan Army guarding the Pingyin Ferry did not dare to fight, and honestly chose to close their camp to protect themselves. At the same time, they sent messengers to ask for help from the south bank.

Closing the camp for self-protection was useless. Seeing the opportunity of the lack of troops in the Pingyin Camp of the Henan Army, Uncle Zhou chose to attack resolutely. After the defenders of the battalion were lured and concentrated on the frontal battlefield, Uncle Zhou arranged for elite soldiers to clear the way with primitive grenades, and under the cover of night, they suddenly attacked the east gate of the Pingyin Camp of the Henan Army. The Han army succeeded in breaking through the east gate and entered the camp directly. Under the attack from inside and outside, the Henan army was even more unable to resist, so they had to abandon the camp in a hurry and fled. The momentum of concealing ears has successfully captured two important places, Zhiguan and Pingyindu.

The matter is not over yet. After taking Pingyin Ferry, Uncle Zhou not only ordered the soldiers of the Han army to seize the ferry boat, but also allocated manpower to collect all the surrounding ships, large and small, and gather them all at the ferry pier. Out of the posture of preparing to cross the Yellow River south.In the end, after everything was arranged properly, Uncle Zhou, who hadn't closed his eyes for two days and two nights, heaved a sigh of relief, and said to himself, "I've already done what should be done. It depends on whether Sima Yang's main force can be tricked." Can Li Zuoche stop Sima Ang?"

(End of this chapter)