Outside Hangu Pass is the last great plain between Wei and Han, and it is also the natural place for decisive battles between Kanto and Kansai.
On the west side of the plain outside the pass is the majestic Hangu Pass, followed by the long Xiaohan Road. On the north side of the great plain is a large river, which is a natural obstacle.
It can be said that in this battle, the Kansai side has an excellent geographical advantage. They have a stronghold of 40,000 elite soldiers at the foot of the pass, a narrow river on the left, and a majestic pass behind them to defend. It can be said that they can advance and retreat freely.
However, the Kansai Army still has a hidden worry, that is, the Jianshui passing through Hangu Pass will divide the Kansai Army under the pass into two parts. Although the Jianshui is not deep, it will be somewhat troublesome if both sides support it.
According to the information Zhang Chong has received so far, the Battle of Donggu that broke out on March 9 was first initiated by the Kwantung Army.
The main force of 56,000 soldiers was dispatched by Huangfu Song into three groups. One group was the vanguard force led by Zhu Jun, which was roughly located on the west side of Donggu Pavilion, only two miles away from the enemy army. The other group was the Chinese army commanded by Huangfu Song himself. , entrenched in Donggu Pavilion. The last route was the rear army commanded by Qianguang Luxun, now the chariot general Ding Gong.
Huangfu Song spent a lot of time on scheduling, and he trusted Zhu Jun very much. Although the two of them were a bit dirty when they suppressed the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou, Huangfu Song still had no doubts about Zhu Jun's ability, so he took him as a vanguard.
But Huangfu Song only has one comment on the current chariot general Ding Gong, that he is a idiot.
Ding Gong comes from the Ding family of Pei State in Yuzhou. Not only is he one of the driving forces behind the Henan rebellion, but he is also friendly with the current Sikong Xuxiang. It can be said that he is a person recognized and accepted by both factions, so he was specially selected. In the army, he was used to check and balance Huangfu Song.
Huangfusong knew that as a Kansai man, it would be difficult for him to be truly accepted by the Kanto gentry, but he had no choice. He made a wrong decision at the lowest point in his life, which forced him to live in Kanto. Go all the way to the dark side.
What gave him some relief was that the Kansai side did not liquidate his clan because of this. It was just unfortunate that the descendants of these families would be thrown into the battlefield to fight with him.
This is helplessness. Even for people like Huangfu Song who are already Taiwei, there are too many things that cannot be changed.
So even though he knew that Ding Gong was a loser and that this person was here to check him or to attack him, Huangfu Song still put Ding Gong behind.
This is the confidence and determination of the commander-in-chief Huangfu Song. He is responsible for this battle and his soldiers.
Idiots can come and share the work, but please stay away from the battlefield.
After Huangfu Song made arrangements, the Kansai Army on the opposite side sent an envoy, a young man named Fa Zheng.
Seeing him talking eloquently in front of him, Huangfusong seemed to see his former self.
But the expressions of the generals present were not as indifferent as Huangfu Song's, simply because this boy named Fa Zheng had clamored before the battle to take no prisoners in this battle. Therefore, all of them present had only one outcome, and that was death.
Huangfusong did not think that Fazheng had lost his mind. He knew that this must be a decision discussed by the Kansai side.
But the same goes for Huangfu Song. He will take no prisoners in this battle. This is a real life and death battle.
The generals were about to sacrifice Fazheng to the flag, but Huangfusong waved his hand and sent Fazheng back with Huangfusong's words:
"In the past I was a lord, but now I am an enemy. Let us fight to the death on this vast plain. Mother will let the world bleed again."
Yang Biao, the commander-in-chief on the Kansai side, was silent for a long time after hearing this.
Finally, both sides beat the war drums almost at the same time, each with eighty-one large cowhide drums, which made the heaven and earth tremble.
As soon as the war began, Zhu Jun, the vanguard commander of the Guandong side, ordered the entire army to attack the enemy's defense line under the pass.
Zhu Jun, who was already gray-haired, took the lead and personally moved the big banner forward to directly direct the front-line battle.
Zhu Jun has aged very fast in the past two years. In fact, he was tortured internally by being coerced by the powerful forces in Henan to cause chaos. He was greatly favored by Liu Hong, even though he could use the excuse that the chaos was for the sake of the emperor, and that the eunuchs were dirty to save the world. He convinced himself, but it still couldn't change the fact that he was the second minister.
Therefore, Zhu Jun's frivolity at the moment is more like a kind of paralysis. Only by being in the world of blood and sand can he forget those shameful things.
So there is this old man chatting about being a teenager, leading the yellow to the left and holding the blue sky to the right, and riding thousands of horses to roll around the level hill.
There is a saying that the military strength between Kanto and Kansai is actually the same.
Although the Kansai soldiers have been fighting against the Qiang all year round and have stronger individual soldier skills, the Kwantung Army they faced was built with the main force of the Northern and Southern Army as the core, and was equipped with many powerful troops from the Kanto region, so the war between the two sides fell into a tense situation.
But the war soon took a turn for the better.
When the Kwantung Army was dispatching its troops, a northeasterly wind suddenly blew up, directly raising a cloud of sand and dust.
Zhu Jun, who was supervising the troops on the front line, immediately seized this opportunity and ordered the archer to empty all the arrows in his quiver.
The officials on the front line of the Kansai Army were knocked upside down by the large wave of missed arrows, and they immediately ordered their own archers to fight back.
But they misjudged the distance between the two sides.
Because the equipment of the two Han armies was similar, and the bows and arrows used by each had a similar range. Therefore, the officers in Kansai subconsciously thought that if the other side could shoot themselves, then I could also hit the other side.
Therefore, under the orders of the commanders of each formation, the archers on the Kansai front also fought back wildly. However, due to the northeast wind, these arrows did not hit Zhu Jun's army at all, but were picked up by Zhu Jun's archers in large numbers. The arrow missed and shot back again.
At the same time, Zhu Jun ordered Zhang He to lead his elite troops to take advantage of the chaos and attack the enemy's formation.
Zhang He wore three layers of armor, and then ran wildly with a group of warriors wielding mallets and big axes wielding swords and axes. Especially Zhang He was filled with blood and anger.
He wanted to avenge his clan brother Zhang Chao. He did not know that Zhang Chao died in the power struggle among the upper class in Guandong. Zhang He only knew that it was these Kansai barbarians who killed his beloved clan brother.
Zhang He originally had the courage of tens of thousands of people, but now he was so angry that he was unable to stop him. Not long after he broke into the Kansai camp, he killed the general of a battalion.
The Kansai Army's position became more and more loose. Finally, when Zhu Jun came forward with final preparations, the Kansai Army finally retreated.
They tried to cross the river to reach the friendly forces in the south, but this time the small shallow river became the burial place for most of the officials of the Kansai Army.
The Kwantung Army came from behind and did not miss any opportunity to kill the enemy. There were tragically dead Kansai officials lying everywhere in the stream. The stream at this moment was clearly red.
Later in the chaos, Zhu Jun watched his sons chasing each other under the banner. He took a deep breath and smiled:
"Go and write a letter to Marshal Huangfu behind you, telling him that we won and let him attack the enemy on the south bank of Jianshui."
The soldiers on the side laughed when they heard this, and then took the order and rushed back to the marching shogunate in Donggu Pavilion behind.
But soon, more and more Kwantung troops stopped fighting. They turned around during Pao Ze's discussion and felt uneasy when they saw the black clouds rising into the sky behind them.
Zhu Jun also saw that the black smoke was coming from the east bank of Gushui. What was burning?
The black smoke that Zhu Jun saw was also seen by Huangfu Song who was at the Donggu Pavilion Central Military Post. He was confused at first, then couldn't believe it, and asked Yuan Shao next to him:
"Benchu, tell me the truth, where is our luggage now."
Now Yuan Shao is accompanying the army as Commander Shi of the Central Army. Although he is not in charge of the baggage, he is responsible for it.
At this moment, Yuan Shao's face was ashen. He thought for a while and told what he knew:
"Commander, when Shao and his army crossed the Gushui River, the baggage was under the control of Ding Palace of the rear army, and it was still on the east bank of the Gushui River."
Huangfusong took a breath and turned to the following angrily:
"Does any of you know where the baggage is now?"
Just when the Chinese army's tent was as quiet as ice, Zhu Jun's report of victory led the soldiers to rush in happily.
He did not notice the tense atmosphere in the tent, but still reported the good news:
"Commander, our front army has defeated the enemy on the north bank of the stream. We are waiting for you, Commander, to send troops."
But after the person finished speaking, there was no reply from above for a long time, so he raised his head in confusion.
Only then did he see that Huangfu Song's face was terrifyingly dark.
He didn't know what happened, but at this time, another soldier came in.
As soon as Fang came in, he knelt on the ground and said tremblingly:
"Commander, the baggage on the north bank of Gushui was burned by the Kansai cavalry."
At this time, Huangfu Song breathed a long sigh of relief and asked the following soldier:
"Oh, what is your servant General Ding doing now?"
This commanding officer was much more knowledgeable than Zhu Jun's commanding officer. He noticed that the commander seemed to be on the verge of anger, so he hurriedly replied:
"Go back to the commander-in-chief. Commander Ding is organizing troops to rescue the supplies of food and fodder. When I came, the enemy's cavalry had already been defeated."
Huangfu Song was speechless for a long time, and finally sighed and ordered:
"The entire army retreats to the north bank of the valley river."
Then he turned to Zhu Jun’s soldiers and said:
"When you go back, tell me that I will put your Zhu Shuai in the rear to protect the entire army's retreat."
At this time, the soldier realized it later, nodded, and ran back to the main formation.
Huangfu Song knew that he was a bit sorry for Zhu Jun by doing this, so of course he could gamble.
Even if the baggage at the rear is burned down, considering the reserves of the army, it is not a problem to support it for three to five days. And now that the war has made great progress, Huangfu Song can definitely take a gamble and let the entire army launch a general attack to defeat the troops outside the pass in one fell swoop. enemy.
But Huangfusong knew that the risk of doing so was too high. He did not forget that there was another great pass in front of him. He had no confidence that he could break through it in the fifth day.
And by that time, Huangfu Song didn't dare to think about what would happen if the army ran out of food.
It is true that for an army, the biggest enemies are always disease and hunger. After all, how many people can only be killed by chopping with a knife and an axe?
So he didn't dare to take such a gamble. Anyway, since he had an advantage in front, it was okay to retreat now. But when he thought of the huge baggage, he couldn't help but sigh.
In order to gather this batch of supplies, Kanto has tried its best. After this batch of supplies was burned, Kanto no longer had supplies to support another Western Expedition in a short period of time.
It seems that this war between East and West is really going to bleed out the blood of the Han family.
When Huangfusong was still worried about the future situation, he had no idea that his decision had harmed Zhu Jun.
When the soldiers sent back the order of the Central Army to Zhu Jun, Zhu Jun was confused.
This amount of information is too much. How could the baggage be on the east bank of Gushui? How could it be burned down? How did the enemy know the address of their own baggage? What were the rear soldiers responsible for the safety of the baggage doing?
But when he knew that Huangfu Song was going to withdraw his troops and asked him to take charge of the rear.
Zhu Jun can understand, but understanding is understanding, and he cannot do it.
Why?
As long as you look at the current battlefield situation, you will know that withdrawing troops at this moment is nonsense.
At this moment, Zhu Jun's 15,000-strong army was scattered on the battlefield with no organization at all. And what Zhu Jun could control and dispatch was the 200 cavalry under his own banner.
How do you want him to organize a retreat?
He didn't dare to call gold at all, because as soon as he knocked, the opponent would immediately know that they were going to run away, and they would definitely fight back. By then, a big victory would inevitably turn into a big defeat.
But what should we do if we don’t withdraw? The main force behind has already run away, and if he stays here, he will inevitably die.
So at this time, Zhu Jun made an unexpected decision. Instead of withdrawing his troops, he continued to let the Chinese army beat the drums.
After that, he quietly asked the two hundred Chinese army cavalry to go around to the rear, with many flags and dust raised, pretending to be the main force of the Chinese army attacking in full force.
Zhu Jun's actions indeed made Yang Biao, who was in charge of the command at Guancheng, misjudge.
He knew that Dong Zhuo had sent cavalry around to attack the enemy's baggage. One of the leaders was Hu Zhen and the other was Lu Bu. Especially Lu Bu, Yang Biao could not forget him after seeing him.
He is nine feet tall, has excellent riding and shooting skills, and is a first-rate warrior.
After Yang Biao learned that this Lu Bu was a military officer of King Qin of Nanxia in Wuyuan County, most of the Bingzhou troops in Nanxia were stationed in Hedong. Later, Dong Zhuo captured the troops with an imperial edict.
It was then that Lu Bu was under Dong Zhuo's command.
So after Yang Biao learned of this situation, he immediately transferred Lu Bu and other Bingzhou troops into the camp as the commander of the camp. However, Dong Zhuo led the Qiang and Hu cavalry and rushed into the camp. Dong Zhuo also shouted:
"I, Dong Zhuo's soldiers, are my people in life and my ghosts in death. Do you think you, Yang Biao, are worthy of fighting against me?"
As soon as this incident broke out, Yang Biao's prestige in the army was once again reduced.
And Yang Biao also tolerated Dong Zhuo because he took the overall situation into consideration.
It was also because of Yang Biao's forbearance that Dong Zhuo later sent troops to attack the Kwantung soldiers' baggage, and the battle was won.
But now looking at the situation in Guanxia, the opponent actually wants to attack by force?
Yang Biao thought for a while and decided to order all ministries to stick to it.
After all, time was on their side, and taking the initiative would only fall into the enemy's scheme.
In this way, Zhu Jun maintained his posture for a long time. When he saw that the opponent had fallen into the trap, he also ordered his troops to withdraw.
However, when Zhu Jun led his army to retreat, they were attacked by Bingzhou cavalry. This time there was no accident and they were defeated.
In the end, only more than 8,000 soldiers followed Zhu Jun back to the east bank of the Valley River. Nearly 7,000 people were trapped on the south bank and were finally captured by the Bingzhou Army.
When Zhu Jun watched sixty-eight officials being dragged out by Bingzhou soldiers and then executed across the river, Zhu Jun fell ill.
The second battle between East and West Beijing ended so dramatically.