Six more days have passed since Zhang Chong asked Jushou last time.
At this time, it was already the fifth day of July in the first year of Taiwu, and more than a month had passed since June when they pledged themselves to the Northern Expedition, but the Taishan Army was still trapped under Zhending City.
The Taishan Army still besieged Zhending City and did not launch a forceful attack. But this does not mean that the Taishan Army did nothing during this period. In fact, at the end of June, the day when Zhang Chong inquired about Jushou, the Taishan Army had just completed the
A beautiful annihilation.
It turned out that on the same day, a military report from Jingxing Pass was also delivered to Zhang Chong. It was sent by Le Jin, the general who was left behind at Jingxing Pass, and it was about the same thing.
Just the day before yesterday, Le Jin had just repelled an enemy force that was trying to read out from Jingxingkou. It turned out that the flag was the enemy force from Taiyuan.
Sure enough, with Zhang Chong's siege finally settled, not only Lu Zhi in the north could no longer sit still, but also Taiyuan, which had been watching the war in Hebei from the sidelines, also began to take action.
Unlike most people who think that Jingxing is just a pass, in fact Jingxing is a traffic artery shared by Taiyuan and Changshan Kingdom.
Since it is a passage, there are passes at both ends. The pass on the west, that is, the side close to the Taiyuan Basin, is called Xigu Pass. It is the key pass for Taiyuan to resist enemies coming from the east.
To the east of Jingxing Road, the pass close to Changshan Kingdom is called Tumen Pass, which is what we often call Jingxing Pass, and our Lejin is stationed here with five hundred soldiers.
Some people may ask, since the Jingxing Pass is so important, why didn't Le Jin go directly to Xigu Pass in the west and directly defend the enemy at the western foot of Taihang Mountain? If he only defended Jingxing Pass, why not put the enemy in the west?
Taihang Mountain?
In fact, this is considered from an economic point of view. Whenever you defend such a long valley, you usually only need to defend the pass close to the entrance. Because if you defend directly at the exit, the pressure will be high in order to supply the defenders on the opposite side with food and fodder.
Extremely large.
On the contrary, as long as the entrance to one side is guarded, if the enemy wants to attack, they will have to maintain the long and difficult supply line in the valley, which will put pressure on the other side.
Therefore, Le Jincai only needs to guard Jingxing Pass.
There were two waves of people who attacked Lejin. One group was from the Shanliao of Baodu Mountain, which was less than five miles away from Jingxing Pass. They also occupied Jingxing Pass originally. When they saw Lejin attacking later, they thought it was the arrival of the Han army and hurriedly fled.
Arrive at Baodu Mountain.
Later, seeing that there were not many people coming in from Le Jin, these mountain huts once again made noise and went down the mountain to attack the pass. But such a mob was no match for Le Jin and his 500 cavalry troops.
Yue Jinshuai's three hundred cavalry came out of the pass. In less than a moment, they defeated thousands of Shanliao and captured two hundred before returning.
But soon, news came from Le Jinwai's sentry stationed in the Taihang Mountains, saying that a Han army with numerous flags was crossing the Mianman River and heading towards Jingxing Pass.
Mianmanshui is a valley river originating from the western foothills of Taihang Mountain. During Han Xin's last battle, the so-called water was Mianmanshui.
And once the ferry crosses Mianmanshui, it's only two days' journey from Jingxing Pass. If you hurry, you can get there by traveling day and night.
Therefore, Le Jin hurriedly ordered a sentry rider to go to Zhending's base camp to ask for help, while preparing for war in the pass.
As the most important pass for the Taishan Army on the west side, Jingxing Pass must be defended no matter what, otherwise the Northern Expedition will really end here.
Because the Han army had to cross the river for a very long time, Le Jin's sentry cavalry could not accurately estimate the size of the Han army. But based on the number of people crossing the river, it was at least four to five thousand soldiers.
Such a huge force is undoubtedly very stressful for Le Jin. He has a total of 500 men, and he really has to fight ten of them to compete.
But Le Jin is not without good news.
One is that he took the lead in defeating the Baodu Mountain forces five miles away from the flank before the war. If when he fought with the Han army later, these Baodu Mountain Shanliao came out to attack Jingxing Pass, then he would really be powerless.
Back to heaven.
Another point is that to the west of Jingxing, there are mountains and complicated roads, which are very unfavorable for the deployment of large troops. In other words, the number of people deployed by the Han army on one side is only the same as that of Lejin, and the numerical advantage on the opposite side cannot be deployed at all. Therefore,
For Le Jin, it is not impossible to fight.
Finally, there is another point, that is, the Han army from Taiyuan came all the way, and the supply line was very long. As long as Le Jin defended Jingxing, the supply of food and fodder for the Han army on the opposite side would be very long. At that time, when the reinforcements from the rear were large,
Then we can go around the back of the Han army from the direction of Baodu Mountain and cut off their supplies.
But these are all conservative. He Lejin wants to take the initiative.
Le Jin knew that the king had high hopes for him, otherwise he would not have pulled him from the Cavalry Army system to the lower part of the account, so Le Jin himself had a strong desire to make contributions.
Therefore, after Le Jin arranged the defense of the city gate, he personally took two sentries out of the gate and lurked in the mountains and forests to personally observe the movements of the Han army.
That night, Le Jin came back.
After making a general observation of the Han army, Le Jin made the following arrangements for his five hundred cavalry.
He ordered all the cavalry under his command to dismount and fight, and then gathered all the 700 horses in the general together. Then he divided dozens of people, each holding a drum, to quietly drive the horses into the valley and hide them.
At dusk on the second day, the Taiyuan Han army arrived at Jingxing Pass.
Le Jin first tied all the 200 Shanliao prisoners to the gate, making the Han army think that there were still soldiers defending the gate. Then he led the entire army of 450 armored soldiers out of the gate to fight with the Han army.
Le Jin formed a phalanx of ten rows with fifty people in each row under Jingxing Pass. This width just closed the road, and the thickness of ten rows also allowed each row to still fight alternately and ensure rest.
The Han army did not know the details of Jingxing Pass.
In fact, they didn't even know that this level had been captured by Taishan bandits until they arrived at the place.
However, the leader of this side was proud of his large number of troops. When he saw that the Taishan bandits in the city gate actually chose to go out to fight in the field, he didn't think much about it and suppressed the army and began to move to fight with the Taishan bandits.
The front rows of both armies were full of armored soldiers, who would huddle together and beat and push each other in the crudest and crudest way.
Le Jin has been standing at the head of the sixth row. There is a small slope here, allowing him to have enough height to observe changes in the battlefield.
Soon, the sky became darker and darker. Seeing that the time was almost up, Le Jin hurriedly blew the horn.
The passionate horns soon spread to the nearby valley. The cavalry officers who had been prepared for a long time directly beat the war drums, and then the remaining officers mounted their war horses and drove the entire army's war horses towards the battlefield at high speed.
For a moment, the sky and the earth were filled with the roar of war drums, and dust filled the sky and moved the earth.
It was already dark at this time, and the Han army saw that the Taishan bandits were fighting fiercely, so they all thought that the enemy was well prepared. Sure enough, they heard a large cavalry regiment rushing towards them. Unknown to them, they thought it was an ambush. He was dispatched, so he fled in a hurry.
Seeing that the Han army was defeated, Le Jin ordered a fierce pursuit of the Han army.
But Le Jin's general, Huang An, advised Le Jin not to pursue further.
Huang An is a student from the third phase of the Hengxing Army and is now in charge of the main song of the Cavalry. He said to Le Jin:
"General, the so-called poor enemy should not be pursued. To the west of Jingxing, the mountains are high and the forests are dense, and there are large armies lurking at any time. Even if the opposite side is defeated, how can we not be on guard that others are tempting me to go deep? The reason why Zhao Xie and other generals were defeated by Han Xin at Jingxing , isn’t it just because of his strategy of luring the enemy deep in? Now my troops are very weak, and the city gate behind us is a prison port. Although they are all tied up, how can we know that there will not be one or two who escape? Therefore, I advise my generals not to take any prisoners. If we continue to pursue, why not clean up the battlefield and return to the pass to wait for reinforcements?"
What Huang An said is very reasonable. Le Jin is not a person who refuses to listen to advice. He knows that if he continues to pursue it, the risks will outweigh the benefits.
So Le Jin Mingjin withdrew his troops, cleaned up the battlefield, and returned to Jingxingkou with the thirty surrendered Han troops. As soon as he came back, he saw that several Shanliao people had somehow managed to break free from the ropes, and were about to escape.
Le Jin was secretly frightened, knowing that he had been greatly helped by Huang An. As a result, the two became closer, and Le Jin stopped fighting in the field and only waited for reinforcements to arrive from the rear.
Soon, an army of two thousand people came from Zhending, and the general was Li Damu, a powerful general in the army.
Just when Li Damu and Le Jin were preparing to leave the pass to fight the Han army, the spy report had already reported that the Taiyuan Han army had retreated and retreated to Xigu Pass.
In this way, the Taiyuan Han army's attack ended in an anticlimactic manner.
But they didn't know that if they retreated here, they would harm the Zhending friendly forces to the east.
…
July 5th, morning.
When the Han army at the top of the city saw the Taishan army below the city placing more than ten flags representing the identity of the Han army in Taiyuan under the city, and seeing the dozens of heads of the Han army, they were all panic-stricken.
Obviously, from what the thieves below the city said, combined with the heads of those flags, their Taiyuan reinforcements were defeated.
Realizing this bad news, many Han soldiers on the city wall felt as if they were mourning for their heirs.
Not everyone can be as determined as Tian Kai and others. In fact, Zhending City is already at the end of its tether.
In the nearly month-long siege, the Taishan bandits on the nearby slopes continued to use long bows to shoot at the Han troops on top of the city. So far, the number of casualties of the Han troops has risen to 600, accounting for 10% of the total strength of the city. One-tenth.
This kind of passive beating has done too much damage to morale. Compared with a month ago, the morale in the city has hit rock bottom.
But now, after seeing the reinforcements destroyed, Chengtou's morale once again fell from the bottom to the abyss. Because their only hope was also lost.
After being besieged, they had completely lost contact with the outside world. So they didn't know that on the north bank of Hutuo River, Zhenbei General Lu Zhi had prepared an army of unprecedented scale. So they also didn't know that the Taishan Army just defeated
They received reinforcements from Taiyuan but were not able to annihilate them.
At this moment, many officials on the top of the city had their last nerve crushed. They didn't want to suffer anymore, so they looked at the bottom of the city and jumped down.
Some who were lucky just broke their legs and cried out. But some who were unlucky crashed directly into the antlers of the city. Their whole bodies were hung on the sharp wood, and water flowed all over the ground.
But more often than not, the person's liver and brain are directly destroyed, and he dies.
The Han troops on the top of the city kept jumping into the city, making the atmosphere in Zhending City even more terrifying and depressing.
Knowing that his mood was not right, Tian Kai, who was resting in the city, hurriedly led his troops to the city to suppress it. After replacing a group of soldiers on the city wall, he managed to drive away the feeling of defeat.
However, the Taishan Army did not give the Han Army in Zhending City any rest, and today was the day of their general attack.
As the sixty-four cowhide drums in the Chinese army's tent began to beat, the Taishan Army on the front line began to take action.
Six giant nest carts, like giant beasts, were slowly moving from outside the camp. Each nest cart was pulled by twenty oxen in front and pushed by fifty warriors from behind.
These six giant nest cars were lined up along the west side of Zhending. After half an hour, they finally moved to the top of the city.
At this time, the Han army at the west city gate was in chaos. The officials kept giving military orders to their subordinates:
"Send fire arrows at them."
So, after some panic, the Han army organized the first wave of counterattack.
Hundreds of rockets pierced the sky and shot at the nest carts on the opposite side, but with little effect. These nest carts were all wrapped in cowhide on the front, so how could they be useful.
Seeing that the rocket arrows were useless, he quickly used his clever military officer to say:
"Hurry up and move the logs and put them all outside the city."
In this way, a large number of logs were moved and all were placed horizontally outside, blocking the giant nest car from approaching the city head.
This trick really worked, because the logs were blocking the way, and the giant nest car under the city couldn't be pushed.
Just when the Han army secretly breathed a sigh of relief, a rapid sound of gongs suddenly came from below.
Then the Han army saw a huge wooden plank suddenly lowered from the chao chariot on the opposite side, and it was just fastened to the top of the city.
There were a few unlucky Han soldiers who had no time to hide and were hit with wooden planks, causing their brains to burst.
Obviously, the place where the Taishan Army originally placed the wooden planks should have been more than a foot behind the city wall. However, because the Han Army used logs to block it, it has just been placed at the top of the city. Although it is not as strong as before, it is enough.
After the long wooden board was put down, a group of Taishan Army warriors wrapped in iron armor were directly revealed. They were holding either giant axes or sabers in their hands, and they jumped out as soon as the wooden board landed.
These selected trappers quickly stood on the top of the Zhending city. Three or five of them formed a small formation and pushed to both sides, leaving enough space for Pao Ze in the rear to jump into the city.
But not everything is so smooth. The six-seater giant nest car is really useful for the four-seater.
The distance between one of them was not enough, and the long board that was put down could not reach the city wall. In the end, the soldiers in the chariot could only stare at the Han army at the top of the city opposite, but could not move forward.
There was another one that was even worse. The Han army guard on the top of the city had left some kerosene for some unknown reason. As soon as the wooden planks were placed on the chariot, the Han official from the opposite side threw a load of kerosene.
The earthen jar collided with the iron clothes of the Taishan Army soldiers and was shattered to pieces.
But the black kerosene also flowed all over the soldiers.
Then there was a burst of fire from the Han army on top of the city, and the tragedy happened.
Without exception, all the ten soldiers in the chariot were burned to ashes. They wailed and jumped off the chariot to end their lives.
What's even more tragic is that the interior of the nest car is not fireproof, so the fire quickly spreads to the interior. In the end, except for the ten soldiers near the bottom exit who escaped with their lives, the fifty-man soldiers selected forward were directly burned.
Forty people died.
The giant nest car is also like a lit torch, releasing light and heat, and also amplifying human fear and cruelty.
This is just a corner of the battlefield, but the more brutal battle continues at the top of the city.