When the four of them were starting to set off towards the Tang Kingdom, Yuemingguan ushered in a critical moment of life and death.

Since the Qin army launched a large-scale attack at the beginning of the war, it seemed to be discouraged. The city will be attacked once every three days or so, but the scale of each attack is only a drop in the bucket compared to the previous ones.

After so many days of fighting, Huo Qing basically figured out Bai Qi's offensive routine. The three-day attack was only carried out by about 10,000 Qin troops, and each time they fought steadily and steadily, without rushing forward or desperately, it was not at all like Bai Qi's style.

Although he had doubts, Huo Qing had to raise the spirit of twelve points every time to fight against the Qin army. And the results achieved are also quite amazing. Because of Huo Qing's exquisite arrangement, coupled with the advantage of sticking to the Yueming Pass, the battle loss ratio of each other even reached a ratio of one to five. In just a week or two, the Qin army lost at least another 10,000 or so ordinary soldiers.

But this is an excellent result in normal times, but Huo Qing's heart has never been able to calm down. He didn't believe that Bai Qi's ability would choose to drag himself to death by delaying time, but the huge losses brought to the tiger and leopard riders in the first battle made Huo Qing no longer dare to rush out of the city and take the initiative to attack.

Looking at the battle report in front of him, Huo Qing's brain was running at high speed, trying to guess what Bai Qi's mind was, but the result was still nothing.

Helpless, he could only raise his head and ask the adjutant beside him, "How is the battle situation today?"

"Report to the general, the Qin army did not attack the city today. ”

"What, how is it possible, are you sure that the Qin army does not show any signs of attacking the city?" Huo Qing asked with wide eyes.

The adjutant shook his head and said, "General, maybe the Qin army found that the effect of such a siege was not great, so they gave up, and it is not impossible." ”

Huo Qing said with certainty: "If you give up because it doesn't work, Bai Qi would have given up a long time ago, how can you give up now." Ordered, today must not be taken lightly, let the tiger and leopard ride also be prepared, the Qin army may be brewing something big. ”

"Yes, General. The adjutant was about to go out to alert the crowd when a soldier burst in.

In a panic, he reported: "Oh no, General, a large number of troops of the Qin army suddenly appeared behind us. We were completely surrounded. ”

"What, you tell me clearly, what the hell is going on? The Yueming Pass hasn't been broken yet, how can they get to our rear. Huo Qing asked with a serious face.

Being yelled at by the general, the soldier calmed down a little and said: "This morning, our transport team was going to Linjiang City in the rear to transport the materials sent by General Cao, but the transport team found that the soldiers defending the city were a little wrong, so they did not enter the city but let them out, and then from Linjiang City, countless soldiers rushed out, they were wearing the armor of the Qin State, and then we fled desperately, desperately escaped, and finally I was the only one in our entire team who escaped back, and the Qin army had already fallen into the city. ”

Huo Qing briefly calmed the frightened soldiers, and then hurriedly went to the southern city wall with his adjutant.

When he arrived, a heavily armed army lined up beneath the walls. Huo Qing recognized at a glance that this 10,000-strong army was the Qin State Iron Cavalry that slaughtered half of his tiger and leopard cavalry in that battle, but reason still suppressed the anger in his heart.

There are two ordinary cities behind Yueming Pass, namely Linjiang City and Beihe City, which belong to Cao Cao's territory. All along, the three cities echo each other and cooperate with each other. Among them, Yueming Pass is the first line of defense to reach the enemy, while Linjiang City and Beihe City are more like the support cities of Yueming Pass, responsible for providing various supplies. Of course, if the enemy army wants to bypass the Yueming Pass and take down the two rear cities, it will inevitably be attacked by the other two cities, so it is almost impossible to occupy the two cities without the Yueming Pass knowing it, which is also an important reason why the Yueming Pass can be so strong.

But now that Linjiang City is suddenly lost, Yuemingguan has not even had any news, as if overnight, Linjiang City is gone. Huo Qing's heart realized a possibility that he couldn't believe.

He suddenly turned to the adjutant and asked, "Who was the person in charge of the news communication between Linjiang City and Beihe City before?"

The adjutant hesitated for a moment and said, "It's General Lin Xuan." ”

"Lin Xuan is in the camp with a thousand, it is impossible to lose the city so quickly. Looks like I guessed right. Huo Qing said heavily.

"What do you mean by that General Cao has betrayed the enemy?" said the adjutant with a look of disbelief.

Huo Qing nodded, although he really didn't want to believe that Cao Cao, who had great ambitions, would defect to the Qin State, but everything now proved this worst conjecture.

"In this way, North River City is also lost. Huo Qing guessed helplessly. When everything was in front of him now, he finally understood Bai Qi's strange practices. First, a large-scale surprise attack, which hit the tiger and leopard rider at all costs, made his nerves tense and did not dare to send troops at will. Then during this time, he constantly paralyzed himself and found opportunities for a large number of troops to sneak into the rear. And the most disappointing thing for Huo Qing was undoubtedly Cao Cao's rebellion, which instantly left Huo Qing isolated and surrounded by many people.

"Bai Qi is really, too calculating. We've always been in his hands. Now Huo Qing could only sigh helplessly

Zhu Long below saw that Huo Qing had come to the city wall, picked up Wu Yuan, and shouted loudly to the top: "General Huo, now Linjiang City and Beihe City have all been captured by our army. If you know each other, surrender quickly. It can also allow you to reduce your losses a little, otherwise, when our army is besieging on all sides, you will have no chance. ”

Huo Qing looked at the Qin army below with a grim face.

The surrounding soldiers were also silent, the current situation can be said to be the biggest crisis encountered since the completion of Yueming Pass, the indifference and isolation of the royal family, the inexplicable defection of Cao Cao in the rear, and the hundreds of thousands of Qin troops in front of them. There seems to be no hope for any so-called anymore.

But the soldiers did not despair and give up too much, because they knew that their general had not given up yet, and their general was still standing here, and they had the possibility of victory.

As early as this more than a month of stalemate, the soldiers had long experienced despair and thought about giving up. But Huo Qing has been encouraging them, both mentally and materially. And in dozens of battles large and small in the past month, Huo Qing has never left the front line of the battle. If you want to say bitter, he is the most bitter, if you want to say tired, he is the most tired, Huo Qing's unremitting and selflessness fundamentally reshaped the crumbling military heart.

So in this battle, as long as Huo Qing does not retreat, they will resolutely not retreat, as long as Huo Qing is still standing, they will definitely not steal their lives.

At this moment, all the soldiers of Yueming Pass were waiting for Huo Qing's statement, as long as he pointed his long sword, all the soldiers would fight to the death, at any cost.

But Huo Qing made a choice that no one guessed.

I saw Huo Qing bless his voice with Wu Yuan, and said heavily: "We choose to surrender, I, Huo Qing, am willing to take all the soldiers of Yueming Pass to join the Qin army." Tomorrow morning, I will open the city gates and welcome the Qin army into the city. But only Bai Qi convinced me of defeat, so I hope that tomorrow, General Bai will personally lead his troops to accept the surrender of our army. ”

A word was spoken, which shocked the audience, and the soldiers who were already ready to fight to the death did not expect Huo Qing to surrender, and originally just said polite words, and after Huo Qing scolded, Zhu Long, who was attacking the city with the whole army, was instantly disrupted by Huo Qing's surrender, and didn't know what to say.

After Huo Qing finished speaking, he turned around and left the city wall, without giving any explanation, leaving only the surprised defenders and the Qin army.

"General, I don't understand, why did you surrender?" the adjutant and a group of soldiers stood outside the City Lord's Mansion, questioning Huo Qing with a calm face.

Huo Qing looked at this group of comrades-in-arms who had been with him for many years, and asked with a solemn face: "What do you think of our chances of winning this battle? We are facing an enemy army ten times larger than ourselves, and the supply in the rear has been completely cut off, how else can we fight?"

All the soldiers also lowered their heads, only the adjutant still insisted on asking again: "We can't win, but the Han Kingdom can't lose, if we surrender directly, what will happen to the millions of Han people behind, the iron wall in their hearts fell without any resistance, and their undefeated god of war Huo Qing surrendered." My family, as well as the families of many soldiers, are still in the Han Kingdom, and I don't want to just watch the iron hooves of the Qin army easily invade the Han Kingdom. Even if I die, I will die on the battlefield of the battle with the Qin army. ”

"Yes, we're going to die on the battlefield. The fighters behind said in unison.

"I can't make my daughter think that his father is a coward. ”

"My mother has always been proud of me, and I can't surrender. ”

"I want to protect my family, my country. ”

......

Under the guidance of the adjutant, the soldiers told the persistence in their hearts one after another, and expressed their vows to death one after another.

"Quiet," Huo Qing said loudly. The noisy scene also fell silent.

Huo Qing stood up and said slowly: "I don't want to surrender, but what can we do now that we rush out directly to fight the Qin army." They will still march on our corpses and attack our country. Looking at the incomparably quiet and solemn atmosphere below, Huo Qing continued: "If we must die, then we must also tear off the largest piece of Qin Jun's meat. ”

"General, what do you mean?"

"Tomorrow, everything will be at my command. ”

At the same time, there was also an argument in the camp of the Qin army.

"I think Huo Qing's surrender must be deceitful, we can't believe it. "The commander of the First Legion of the Qin State Iron Cavalry, the second son of Emperor Qin, Yingzheng Qin, said affirmatively.

"But now they have fallen into the death ground, no matter how powerful he Huo Qing is, it is impossible to change the result, rather than a meaningless death, it is better to choose to surrender, not for a good choice. Bai Qi's strategist guessed.

And Bai Qi just looked at the table and didn't say a word. It wasn't until the people below were arguing that Bai Qi raised his head slightly, looked at Zhu Long who brought back the news and asked, "Commander Zhu, what do you think Huo Qing is thinking?"

Although Zhu Long, who was suddenly asked, was surprised, he still guessed: "With my understanding of Huo Qing, he will never betray the Han Kingdom, so if we enter the city tomorrow, there will definitely be some ambush." ”

Bai Qiqi nodded and smiled: "That's right, Huo Qing may want to fight big." ”

"General, why don't we attack the city tonight?" the strategist suggested.

"No, since he wants to gamble, I'll gamble with him for nothing. Tomorrow everything will be business as usual, and we will accept Huo Qing's surrender. Bai Qi looked confident.

When the officer in the tent saw that Bai Qi had made up his mind, he knew that it was impossible to change his choice, and only Zhu Long seemed to be thinking about something, and he didn't get too involved in the discussion of tactics.

When all the people in the tent are gone. Bai Qi turned his head to look at a corner of the camp tent and said, "Tomorrow, you will follow me and accompany me into the city." ”

And there's nothing to respond to.