Chapter 567: Winning Baocheng

Among the several generals, the marching Sima Liu Yang was a native of Hanzhong. He was very familiar with the mountains and rivers in Hanzhong. He stood up and said, "General Li, there are two roads to go to Nanzheng City. One is the Han River Road, which is to travel west along the Han River, pass through Xingdao County, Chenggu County, and finally arrive in Nanzheng. This is actually a major road, but Xingdao County and Chenggu County are both located at a dangerous place, and the city walls are strong, so it is not easy to capture them."

Liu Yang walked to the sand table and pointed at another narrow mountain road with a wooden pole: "The other road is a small road. The locals call Luo Bao Road. Ten miles south of Huayang County, there is a small road leading to Baogu Road to the west. Although the road is narrow, there is no dangerous pass fortress. Just pay attention to the ambush of the enemy. After arriving at Baogu Road and then turning south, you will encounter Baocheng County. This is actually the outer gateway of Nanzheng. The city is solid and surrounded by mountains and rivers. The location is very dangerous. After taking Baocheng, Nanzheng City is right in front of you. Both roads can reach Nanzheng, each with its length and size. The general can choose one."

Li Siye was concerned about time, and he asked again: "When it comes from two roads, which road is faster?"

"It should be said that it is almost the same, but you have to pass through two cities by the Han River Road. If you have troops stationed, it will take a little longer. On the contrary, if you walk on the Luobao Path, you will only attack Baocheng, one city, but it is very difficult to capture Baocheng, and casualties are inevitable."

Li Siye pondered for a moment, then resolutely said: "Then let's go to Luobao Road. No matter how hard Baocheng is, will you still be sad about Lianyun Castle? Pass my order and the army sets off at the third update!"

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At the second update, the Anxi Army stood up to clean up, put away the camp tent, and pulled out the camp yard. It was very fast. At the third update, a 50,000 army and a 10,000 camel team set out south. General Zhao Chongjie led 10,000 cavalry to open the way in front.

Luobao Path is forked ten miles south of Huayang County. It is actually a path that walks horizontally with the Han River. It is only more than 30 miles away from the Han River, but is blocked by a mountain. Luobao Path walks west along the northern foot of the mountain. Although it is a path, the road is quite wide. You can take war horses and camels and get to Baocheng County about 150 miles. If it is on the Anxi Grassland, it can be reached in one hour. However, the road in Hanzhong is rugged and the mountain road is difficult to walk, so it takes a day and a night to march.

In order to prevent the Hanzhong Army from ambushing, the Anxi Army, which was extremely intelligent, sent twenty scout teams to patrol the front. However, the Anxi Army did not encounter any trouble. The Anxi Army was traveling through the mountains and ridges. It was the end of September, and the Hanzhong land was already late in autumn. The leaves were colorful and the forests were dyed. It was full of cold in the morning and night. However, under the sunlight, it was warm and gentle, with clear and cool autumn weather and pleasant weather.

It was the weather that made the Anxi Army march quickly. In the evening of the next day, the army arrived in a valley about ten miles north of Baocheng County. The gurgling Baoshui flowed through the valley, and the mountains on both sides were wide open, making it difficult for the enemy to ambush here.

Li Siye ordered to camp in the valley. At this time, the sky gradually became dark, and the cold autumn wind passed through the valley, making a huge whistle. The Tang army soldiers quickly fell asleep after eating dry food to replenish their energy. Li Siye stood on a sudden big rock and looked south. In the darkness, a corner of Baocheng County could be vaguely seen. The so-called county town was actually a castle, built in the gap of the huge canyon, cutting off the road to the south. The terrain of the county town was relatively high. From Li Siye's perspective, it can be seen that the castle was very solid.

At this time, several soldiers led a local man to report to Li Siye: "Report to the general that this man is a woodcutter and is very familiar with the situation in the county town. You can ask him about the specific situation."

Li Siye looked at the man. He was about thirty years old, with a strong figure and agile steps. Perhaps because he was away all year round, his skin looked very dark. Even at night, he could feel the luster of his face. For some reason, Li Siye's first impression of him was whether he was a woodcutter, but he looked like a soldier.

"May I have your name?"

The woodcutter stepped forward and bowed, "Report to the general, the villain is Qiu Silang, who is the local."

"Well! Tell me about the situation in the city, how many garrisons are there?"

"Report to the general, there are about two thousand troops stationed, and there are more than one thousand other residents."

"How high and thick are the city walls? What material is it made of?"

The woodcutter said without hesitation as if he was a letter: "The city is about seven zhang high and three zhang thick. It is all made of huge stones. One man is the pass, and ten thousand men cannot open it."

Li Siye stared at the woodcutter for a while, and then ordered his left and right, "Reward him ten silver dollars and let him go!"

"Thank you for the reward of the general!"

The woodcutter gave Li Siye a deep bow and followed the soldiers down. At this time, the marching Sima Liu Yang next to him walked forward and said, "General Li, I think this person is a fraud!"

Li Siye frowned and said, "Tell me, what's wrong with this person?"

"The main reason is that he was too calm. Seeing that the general didn't kneel, and when he talked about the situation of the city wall, he didn't think about it at all. He opened his mouth and said, "It's like he was prepared in advance. If it were an ordinary person, how could he not be nervous? It's impossible to speak so easily. I feel that this person is a scam!"

In fact, Li Siye was also a little suspicious. It was not because this person was calm in dealing with it. This person's temperament was clearly a soldier, and he had a slightly slinged legs when walking. He was left behind by riding a horse for a long time. Li Siye nodded and ordered his personal soldiers: "Let me find a few scouts to keep an eye on this person. As long as he has any abnormalities, he will arrest him immediately!"

Several personal soldiers went, and Li Siye turned around and stared at Baocheng County. The moonlight was bright, but a layer of silver fog appeared in the night, covering the city wall. Now three days have passed, and he still has seven days. Including the way back, he actually only has four days of combat. Before dark tomorrow, he must take Baocheng County. Although he also knew that Li Qing'an's ten-day limit was not completely serious, it also inspired Li Siye's competitive spirit. He also believed that if he could not take Nanzheng within three days, it would be a great shame for him.

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For ordinary troops, the troops were not moved, and the food and grass were ahead, but for the Anxi Army, the soldiers were not moved, and the scouts were ahead.

When the main Anxi Army was stationed in the river valley, a scout team of ten people sneaked to the vicinity of Baocheng County. The scout leader was a lieutenant named Zheng, with rich experience.

He was not in a hurry to get close to the city, but first observed the terrain several miles away. Baocheng County was sandwiched between two mountains. It was actually a river valley of Baoshui. Both sides were cliffs. The narrow river valley was only about six or seven miles wide and more than ten miles long. This was the only way to get to Nanzheng on Baogu Road. If you don’t walk through this river valley, you have to continue to detour west for hundreds of miles, or retreat to Huayang County, and then go to Hanshui Road again.

It is precisely because of the steep terrain here that Baocheng was built and became a fortress that blocked Baogu Road. The Anxi Army scout team did not approach the city, but climbed up the cliff next to the city. The stone wall was straight up, steep and steep, about a hundred feet high. For ordinary soldiers, it was almost incredible to go up the mountain from here, but it was common for the scouts. They were as flexible as monkeys, and used the vines on the cliffs and the ropes they carried with them to climb up quickly. Ten scouts approached the city bit by bit.

"Captain, there is a cave above it!" a scout whispered.

Captain Zheng looked up and saw that there was indeed a dark cave two feet above, which was flat and wide, about seven feet high, but two feet wide. He nodded and climbed towards the cave. The cave was covered by vines and looked gloomy and wet. Captain Zheng was not in a hurry to go in. If there were poisonous snakes and other things hidden inside, biting the soldiers, the screams would reveal their whereabouts.

He stood on a protruding rock, pulling the long vine with one hand, and cutting off the vines covering the cave with the other hand, turning his back and letting a soldier help to ignite the smoke tube. This is also a fire medicine invented by the Anxi Firearms Bureau. The shell is a bamboo tube, which can emit a lot of thick smoke after ignition. It also contains various ingredients, such as peppers, poisons and realgar. Zheng used the realgar smoke tube, which is generally used to clean up poisonous snakes. He threw the smoke tube into the cave. For a moment, the smoke in the cave was rolling, and the smell was extremely pungent. Only a sound of slugging sounds were heard. More than a dozen long snakes living in the cave escaped and climbed down the cliff along the vines.

He threw three smoke tubes in a row, and the thick smoke filled the entire cave, driving away all the poisonous insects and snakes living in the cave. After waiting for a while, after the thick smoke gradually dissipated, Zheng Zheng jumped into the cave, and the soldiers behind him rushed into the cave one after another.

The cave was wet and dark, but it was quite spacious, and could accommodate ten of them. With a foothold, it would be much easier to explore the city. Zheng Zheng squatted at the entrance of the cave and looked down. From their perspective, the whole picture of Baocheng was extremely clear.

Under the moonlight, Baocheng County is a rectangular shape, six miles wide and about four miles long. It is built two high walls to block the two entrances of the canyon. The city is basically made of stone buildings, with no residents, only a team of soldiers patrolling the city. The walls are very high and thick, but the city gate is not big. Only three people can walk in side by side and the high suspension bridge is pulled up. However, these are not the focus of the scouts' attention. Their task is to find the weaknesses of the city.

‘River!’ Zheng Zheng saw clearly that Baoshui came from the north and passed through the city. A waterway was opened to the west of the city wall, and the river water flowed into the city from this waterway, but the waterway was probably very small and completely submerged by the river.

Zheng quickly drew a sketch and marked it with a mark on the waterway. Based on his years of scouting experience, this waterway was the defensive weakness of Baocheng County. He pondered for a moment and it would be better to find a way to dive into the water and take a look.

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In the camp, there were screams of torture. The woodcutter was caught back. The scout who followed him found that he had taken out a horse from the forest, so he immediately captured him. It was indeed a war horse, and there was a military uniform in the horse bag.

Li Siye sat in the handsome position with a gloomy face, and dared to run to him to deceive him. He was so brave that he was so ambitious.

After a moment, a personal soldier came in and reported: "General, he has already recruited him!"

"Bring him up!"

When the personal soldiers went out, several large Anxi soldiers dragged the woodcutter who was beaten up and covered in wounds. The woodcutter fainted and could no longer answer Li Siye's questions. An interrogator said: "Report to the general, this person is Qiu Yong, and he is the scout lieutenant under Li Huan. He is following us from Huayang County. He is not very clear about the situation in Baocheng County, but he is very familiar with the situation in Nanzheng."

"What's going on in Nanzheng?"

"Reporting to the general, Li Huan thought we would come from the Han River Road, so he deployed 5,000 troops in Xingdao County and Gucheng County. However, we did not go to the Han River Road, so he would withdraw from Nanzheng. The problem was that the scout sent a pigeon letter to Nanzheng two hours ago, telling Li Huan that we did not go to the Han River Road, so that the withdrawal of Xingdao County and Gucheng County would take some time. The scout said that it would not be possible to withdraw until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest."

Li Siye walked in the big tent with his hands behind his back and would not return to Nanzheng tomorrow afternoon. Is there a fighter plane hidden here? A bold plan popped up in his mind. Soldiers are the tricks!

At this time, the scouts who had explored the city came back. Zheng Zheng immediately came to see Li Siye. Li Siye waved his hand and ordered the half-dead spy to heal his wounds. He wanted to continue interrogating him about Nan Zheng's information. He returned to his seat and asked Zheng Zheng, "What are you getting?"

What Li Siye mentioned is the way to break the city. Zheng Zheng bowed and said, "Report to the general, the city is indeed very high and thick. There is a moat in front of the city wall, which makes it difficult to build a ladder, but Baoshui passes through the city and there is a passage under the city wall."

"Channel?" Li Siye's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked, "Can you go and investigate?"

"I went there, a brother with good water nature dived down the Baoshui River. The passage was half-moon-shaped, six feet under the water, and the highest point of the waterway was five feet from the bottom of the river, but it was equipped with a very thick iron fence, so people couldn't get past it."

"Waterway, iron fence......"

Li Siye lowered his head and thought, and his fingers gently knocked on the table. At this time, the marching Sima Liu Yang stepped forward and offered a suggestion: "General Li, the waterway five miles away is very narrow, which can cut off the Baoshui River."

Li Siye suddenly slapped his forehead, he had a way!

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There were 3,000 troops in Baocheng County, preparing a large amount of food and arrows to roll wood. The three thousand people, plus the tall and strong city walls, were enough to withstand the attack of tens of thousands of people. This was also the most difficult first step to attack Nanzheng. Baocheng County was like a solid piece of armor, tightly guarding Nanzheng.

The head general of Baocheng County, surnamed Yang, named Yang Wei, was a member of the Central Army General. He had a slightly sloping relationship with Yang Guozhong, but it was too far apart. He did not get any benefits when the Yang family was in full swing, but when the Yang family was executed, he was not implicated.

General Yang Wei was very cautious. To put it nicely, he was cautious, and to put it ugly, he was timid. But Li Huan was attracted by his cautiousness and caution, so he was asked to guard Baocheng County. Li Huan believed that the main force of the Anxi Army would come over the Han River, but would also send a sporadic army to Baocheng West to fight Baocheng. Therefore, as long as the cautious General Yang never came out, Baocheng County would be foolproof.

But General Yang Wei never expected that the main force of the Anxi Army would go to Baocheng County, and the troops were already at the city. He was panicked and anxious, and ordered all three thousand soldiers to go to the city to defend, and ordered people to rush to Nanzheng for help. Yang Wei couldn't fall asleep all night. He ran to the warehouse again and again to check food, arrows and other supplies. Only when he saw these supplies piled up like mountains could he calm down.

At the fourth update, he suddenly received a report saying that something was abnormal in Baoshui. Yang Wei only felt his legs become weak and he went to inspect the situation deep and shallowly.
To be continued...