"Zhang Liang, you are right, I am a sinner through the ages."
Xiang Yu said with regret, then suddenly stood up and walked out the door.
"Boy, why are you going?" Nan Hua asked.
Xiang Yu turned around and bowed his hands in a salute: "Thank you, senior, for clearing up my doubts. I lost the two southeast gates of Sizhou. Now I am going to atone for my sin."
Seeing this, Guiguzi said calmly: "Boy, the defeat of the Yellow Turbans is inevitable and cannot be resolved by human power. Besides, in your current situation, if you continue to be brave, you will die before entering Luoyang."
Xiang Yu suddenly fell silent upon hearing this. Seeing this, Guiguzi continued: "First heal this injury. The Yellow Turban will be defeated, but it will not die. You will have a chance to atone for your sins."
The struggling look in Xiang Yu's eyes flashed away, and then he asked: "Senior, you are trying to save this junior, but you have something to hold you back?"
Guiguzi glanced at Xiang Yu and revealed a meaningful smile: "You will know when the time comes."
——————
Dagonguan Pass, as the bridge between Sizhou and Yanzhou, played a decisive role in this battle.
Before the Battle of the Han River began, Zhang Liao led an army of 50,000 people to take a detour to Hulao Pass and raid Dagong Pass from behind.
Dagu Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there are still 10,000 defenders inside the pass, so Zhang Liao must catch the enemy off guard in order to capture the pass in one fell swoop.
Zhang Liao originally thought that he could seize Dagong Pass in one fell swoop due to mental calculations or unintentional calculations, but who would have thought that he would meet his opponent this time?
After a short period of chaos, General Otani Pass guard quickly commanded the entire army to stabilize, and then persisted until dawn.
The sneak attack failed, so Zhang Liao had no choice but to launch a strong attack. His strength was five times that of the defenders, and he had many generals accompanying him, so a strong attack was not impossible.
Unexpectedly, the defender of Daguguan was also very capable in defending the city. Zhang Liao personally directed the fierce attack for two days. Even generals such as Ran Min, Xu Huang, and Yu Jin also participated in the attack, but the defender was still blocked.
.
Looking at the yellow turban guard on the city tower, Zhang Liao's eyes were full of fear, and then he said to his left and right: "Send the order and withdraw the troops with gold."
After a sneak attack and two days of strong attack, the Han army had lost 8,000 troops, but Dagu Pass was still as stable as a rock.
If Dagong Pass had not been captured before the Yellow Turban reinforcements arrived, the loss of troops would still be worse, affecting the situation of the trapped dragon. Then Zhang Liao would not be able to atone for his sin even if he died.
Ran Min's body was covered with blood. After striding into the camp, he apologized with a look of shame on his face: "I am ashamed to say that I still failed to capture Dagong Pass."
Zhang Liao quickly stepped down from the throne, helped Ran Min up, and said seriously: "I don't blame the general, the Yellow Turban is really too stubborn here."
"But if this continues, how will we report to the Lord?" Ran Min asked anxiously.
With Ran Min's force, there was no opponent in the Yellow Turbans except Xiang Yu. Qin Hao also ensured that he could capture Dagong Pass before transferring Ran Min to Zhang Liao, but who would have thought that something unexpected happened.
The Yellow Turbans at Dagu Pass are very tenacious in their will to defend the city, and the defenders at Dagu Pass obviously know how powerful Ran Min is. Every time Ran Min ascends the city, he will be met with a sea of people and arrows.
In order to suppress Ran Min and other generals, the Yellow Turbans even shot their own people, which barely offset the gap in generals.
After hearing what Ran Min said, Zhang Liao also had a sad look on his face. He had really met his opponent this time, but it didn't mean that Zhang Liao would give up.
"We'll wait for the troops stationed at Hulao Pass to arrive before continuing the attack. By the way, have you figured out who the enemy defender is?"
Among the 80,000 troops hidden in Xuanyuan Pass, Qin Qiong only took away 20,000, while Zhang Liao had a full 50,000.
The reason why Qin Hao arranged this was because Zhang Liao not only wanted to attack Dagu Pass, but also had to resist the double-sided counterattacks of Sizhou and Yanzhou after taking it. If there were not enough troops, he would definitely not be able to defend it.
Qin Hao never expected that Zhang Liao's 50,000 elite army, assisted by Ran Min and other generals, could not capture Dagu Pass with only 10,000 defenders in a sneak attack.
If the first step is not carried out, how will the subsequent plans be carried out?
Of course, this does not mean that Zhang Liao's ability is not good, but that the Yellow Turban guard at Dagu Pass is indeed quite powerful.
"General Qi, we have found out that the general guarding Dagu Pass is named Zhu Wenzheng, and he is a general under the new Yellow Turban commander Zhu Yuanzhang."
"Zhu Wenzheng?" Zhang Liao frowned slightly and laughed at himself: "If I am not good enough, Zhang Liao will suffer a big loss from a nobody."
Zhang Liao has no impression of Zhu Wenzheng, but if Qin Hao were here, he would definitely exclaim: Why is this guy here?
Zhu Wenzheng was a famous guard general in the early Ming Dynasty. During the "Battle of Hongdu Defense", Zhu Wenzheng was in the isolated city and resisted the attack of Chen Youliang's 600,000 troops, which is a miracle in military history.
Even the 600,000-strong army could not attack Hongdu, which Zhu Wenzheng was defending, and now he was guarding Dagong Pass, which was easier to defend and harder to attack. Zhang Liao wanted to conquer it with an army of 50,000 people, but one can imagine the difficulty.
Zhu Yuanzhang is obviously still at Hangu Pass, but Zhu Wenzheng is at Daguguan. This one thing and the other is the biggest variable in the situation of trapped dragon.
"Report... General Qi, Vice Admiral Bai is back."
Zhang Liao was immediately overjoyed and said quickly: "Quick, let him come in."
Lieutenant General Bai is Tu Baiqi, and the identity implanted into him by the system was that after Qin Qiong left Pojun Camp, he became Zhang Liaoxin's lieutenant general.
Zhang Liao also knew that Bai Qi was a member of the Qin family, and both the lord and the young master valued him very much. He only came to destroy the military camp for gold plating, so naturally he would not treat Bai Qi as an ordinary general.
Bai Qi also quickly conquered Zhang Liao with his own ability, so Zhang Liao was so happy when he heard that Bai Qi was here.
Bai Qi is a Kansai man with a resolute face and a burly body. After seeing Bai Qi make the money, Zhang Liao immediately smiled and asked Bai Qi: "Brother Bai, are you here? How is the defense line at Hulao Pass arranged?"
Already?"
After hearing Zhang Liao's address, Bai Qi's eyes suddenly flashed with helplessness.
Zhang Liao called Bai Qi brother because he admired his ability, but Bai Qi did not dare to call his boss brother directly.
"General, I have used the Hulao Pass ruins to deploy three lines of defense and left an army of 10,000. I think it won't be a problem to defend for three months." Bai Qi said respectfully.
The hierarchy in the army is quite strict, and Bai Qi did not dare to break it without permission until his position was higher than Zhang Liao's.
Only then did Zhang Liao understand the purpose of burning Hulao Pass. If he hadn't burned it when he abandoned the pass, wouldn't it be Hulao Pass that he wanted to attack now?
Hulao Pass is still more dangerous than Dagu Pass. Zhang Liao didn't even capture Dagu Pass, let alone Hulao Pass, which was even more difficult to conquer.
Zhang Liao's task was to block Sizhou's grain road. It was impossible to use all his troops in a strong attack, because the casualties would be too high to withstand the Yellow Turbans' counterattack.
Zhang Liao wanted to control casualties to less than 10,000, so that with an army of 40,000 he could resist the two-sided attack from Sizhou and Yanzhou.
But now eight thousand troops have been lost, and the victory over Dagu Pass is still far away. The next step is obviously a hard battle.
After repeated deliberation, Zhang Liao and other generals could not think of any other method other than a forceful attack. Seeing this, Bai Qi took the initiative and said: "General, if you give the last general an army of 20,000, we will capture Dagu Pass within one day."
"Oh?" A trace of doubt flashed in Zhang Liao's eyes. He didn't understand where Bai Qi's confidence came from, so he asked: "Brother, do you have any good ideas?"
Bai Qi smiled but did not answer, and then said confidently: "The last general has issued a military order."
"Okay, I will give you 20,000 troops."
Half a day later, Dagu Pass was captured by Bai Qi. Zhu Wenzheng led hundreds of remnant troops to flee to Luoyang, and Bai Qi's reputation began to show.