To the north of the Weihan Ancient Road is the surging Yellow River, and to the south are high mountains and ridges, which are covered with high platforms and ravines. Hunters and herb gatherers living in this area are active all year round.
There is only one path for large vehicles, horses and livestock, but if you are a skilled soldier, you can get through climbing mountains and ridges.
An army of 3,000 people was marching quickly in a ravine. Occasionally, animal bones from the White Forest could be seen in the bushes or stone gaps on both sides of the ravine.
"There are many mountain leopards in this area. They climb over the mountains and ridges as if they were flattening the ground. Even the old and weak goats cannot escape their claws." Guide Wei Ping pointed to the goat skeletons on both sides.
Wei Ping was about thirty years old and was born as a hunter in Lushi County, Guozhou. He joined the Western Army five years ago, made many military exploits and was promoted to deputy commander. This time he took the initiative to find Liu Qiong and showed him the secret path.
Liu Qiong nodded and asked, "Where does this mountain pass go?"
"Soon we reached the end, then we climbed up and passed through a forest of more than 20 miles and passed through Nexiang County."
“How far is it from Nexiang County?’
"It's about twenty miles away. It's hard to get through."
After the army had walked several miles, they found the end of the valley in front of them, with a slope going up. Above the slope were some abrupt boulders. Soldiers had already tied rope ladders to the boulders, and the remaining soldiers were pulling the rope ladders to climb up.
These soldiers were all tall and strong, carrying short spears and crossbows on their backs, and carrying long knives on their waists. They also carried a ten-pound bag of kerosene and a bag of dry food. Almost every soldier carried a weight of more than thirty kilograms.
Climbing up the hill, there was an endless pine forest in front of him. Liu Qiong looked north and could only vaguely see the big flag on the city wall more than 20 miles away, which was Nexiang County.
Liu Qiong waved his hand and ordered: "Speed up!"
He led his soldiers into the woods and continued to rush north.
The envoy of Shaanzhou was none other than Kong Yanzhou, the Song general who rebelled during the Battle of Jingxiang. He was defeated miserably in Jiangling and almost the entire army was destroyed. He was then treated coldly by Wanyanchang, but Wanyanwushu admired him more and made him his capital.
He served as the envoy of Shaanzhou and commanded 20,000 elite soldiers of the puppet state of Qi.
Although Kong Yanzhou had a despicable character, he still had merits, otherwise he would not be reused by Wanyan Wushu. When others thought that Chen Qing was going to attack Hedong next, Kong Yanzhou wrote to Wanyan Wushu twice. He believed that Chen Qing was going to attack Hedong next.
Before attacking Hedong, Shaanzhou and Guozhou must be captured first to ensure the absolute safety of Guanzhong.
However, his idea was not recognized by Wanyan Wushu's counselors. The counselors all agreed that it was impossible for Chen Qing to fight on two fronts at the same time. However, Wanyan Wushu still ordered him to be on high alert and observe every move of the Song army.
Kong Yanzhou sent more than a dozen spies to Tongzhou. When Chen Qing appeared in Tongzhou, Kong Yanzhou became nervous. Just two days later in the afternoon, he received a letter from the spy Fei Ge. One hundred thousand soldiers originally stationed at Pujin Pass
The Song army moved towards Tongguan.
Kong Yanzhou immediately became nervous. The Song army moved towards Tongguan. It was definitely not attacking Hedong. There was only one possibility. The Song army was going to attack Shaanzhou and Guozhou. He guessed it right.
Kong Yanzhou immediately wrote an express letter of eight hundred miles and ordered people to ride fast horses to Bianliang.
At the same time, he sent 7,000 more troops to Nexiang County, Hucheng County and Hangu Pass. The garrison in Nexiang County and Hucheng County was to delay the Song army's eastward advance and buy time for Luoyang's reinforcements. The core of the defense was Hangu Pass.
, the number of troops at Hangu Pass reached 8,000, and Kong Yanzhou personally supervised the battle here.
In terms of time, the Luoyang reinforcements could arrive at Shaanxi County in about five days at the earliest. In five days, Kong Yanzhou certainly believed that he could hold on.
In addition, Kong Yanzhou also deployed three thousand troops on the north bank of the Yellow River. Although the number of troops was not large, he just did not want the Song army to successfully capture the north bank of the Yellow River.
As for Guozhou, Kong Yanzhou's troops were really limited, so he couldn't take care of it.
Early in the morning, the sky was gloomy, and Hangu Pass was shrouded in a thin layer of morning mist. Kong Yanzhou was wearing armor and staring into the distance with worry in his eyes. He received an urgent report last night that tens of thousands of Song troops were at the foot of the town of Lu Township. One night passed, and
I don’t know what’s going on in Ranxiang County.
At this time, two cavalrymen came rushing from a distance. They were very embarrassed. One of them saw an arrow stuck in his shoulder. In a moment, the two cavalrymen rushed to the foot of Hanguguan City and shouted: "We are coming from Nuxiang County.
There is an emergency military situation!"
Kong Yanzhou hurriedly shouted: "Open the city gate!"
The door opened and the cavalry rushed into the city. Soon a soldier brought the messenger to Kong Yanzhou. Kong Yanzhou asked urgently: How is the situation in Nuxiang County?'
The messenger knelt down on one knee and cried: "I am reporting to Kong Dutong that the Song army has conquered Nuxiang County."
"Ah!" Kong Yanzhou was stunned. Why was it captured by the Song Army in just one night?
"What about General Song and the other soldiers?" Kong Yanzhou asked hurriedly.
"General Song did not escape, and he did not know whether he was alive or dead. Only a few hundred brothers escaped from the east city gate, but they still couldn't escape the pursuit of the Western Army's cavalry. They died and surrendered. Only the two of us on horseback escaped the pursuit.
"
Several generals nearby yelled at the Song Army. Kong Yanzhou quickly waved his hands to ask them to be quiet. He then asked: "Tell me in detail, how did the Western Army breach the county gate?"
"Reporting to Kong Dutong, the Western Army used battering rams, but at the beginning, they used heavy oil fire cabinets to spray fire oil on the city. The entire city turned into a sea of flames, and there were no soldiers on the city. Then their
The battering ram came and smashed open the city gate."
The general next to him yelled, "A bunch of idiots, why do they let the oil fire cabinet spray kerosene? Can't they be shot with random arrows?"
"General, their heavy oil and kerosene are stored in large carts. The walls of the cart are made of thick wooden boards, and arrows cannot reach them at all.
Kong Yanzhou narrowed his eyes. What a powerful siege method, it was exactly the same as Wanyan Loushi's method of attacking Shaanxi County. Back then, the Jin soldiers used giant trebuchets to throw kerosene, igniting the entire city head of Shaanxi County, and then hit it with a battering ram.
Open the city gate and invade the city.
This siege method is useful for the county town, but it is useless for Hangu Pass. There are several gates in Hanguguan. Even if you break through the outer city gate, you will have to face another gate after entering, and there are gates on the left and right.
, this structure is very similar to the Wengcheng in the big city. There is also a lot of fire oil and gunpowder stored in Hangu Pass. Once the Song army enters the outer city, they will be trapped. No matter how powerful the heavy oil fire cabinet's cart is, they will not be able to resist it.
Live in burning fire.
Kong Yanzhou was not worried at all about the Song army coming to kill him. On the contrary, he had been waiting for this day for a long time.
Three thousand soldiers marched all the way in Guozhou, bypassing Guolue County and entering the Zhushui River Valley in the east of the county. The river valley is about a hundred miles long and filled with rocks. The river flows through the mountains. It is early spring in February, and the snowy rivers
The water had just begun to melt and the water was flowing rapidly. The army encountered low waterfalls from time to time. The soldiers climbed down the cliff on ropes, making the march very difficult.
At this time, the army came to a river beach. In front of it was a large mountain. The candle water passed through the mountain. There were cliffs on both sides of the river. They had no way to go.
Wei Ping pointed to the river channel: "The river ahead is very deep, so we can only use sheepskin rafts to float across it."
The generals were all surprised, "We have three thousand troops!"
Wei Ping said helplessly: "I know that one hundred large rafts can carry three thousand soldiers."
Liu Qiong shouted sternly: "The water of the Yellow River has drifted through it. What does this little river water mean? Hurry up and cut down the trees and tie up the raft!" The three thousand soldiers put down their weapons and luggage and went to cut down the trees and build the raft together. Liu Qiong asked: "This section of the river valley is How long is it? About twenty miles. Beyond the mountains is the Weihan Ancient Road. In fact, we have already passed Hangu Pass."
Three thousand soldiers spent half a day building more than a hundred large rafts. In order to increase buoyancy and stability, they also tied sheepskin bags around them. The first large raft was launched, and thirty soldiers boarded the raft. , carefully paddling towards the middle of the river.
Immediately afterwards, a second large raft was launched, full of soldiers, followed by a third and fourth raft.
Liu Qiong was sitting on the first raft. The current was relatively fast. Two soldiers held long bamboo poles in front of and behind to stabilize the raft.
"Where does the river end up?" Liu Qiong asked.
“Of course it’s the Yellow River!’
Wei Ping laughed and said: "All rafts will eventually be washed into the Yellow River. We landed halfway."
Liu Qiong nodded, and the raft drifted for about twenty miles. Liu Qiong suddenly found a county town looming ten miles ahead on the left, and asked in surprise: "Where is that?"
"That's Lingbao County. Hangu Pass is just to the west of Lingbao County, but we have to go ashore."
Wei Ping pointed to the right, and a river beach appeared hundreds of steps ahead.
[There are still two updates today. I have no choice. Once I do the nucleic acid test, I have to travel to two places. I have to take my mother to queue up to do the nucleic acid test. Basically, I can’t write in the whole morning.
There was an error in the chapter yesterday. Zhe Keqiu was written as Zhe Keshi, which was very inappropriate. One was a national hero, and the other was a surrendered traitor. This has been revised.]