Qian Zhongyi specially put on a blood-red cloak today, and stood upright on the city gate tower with a knife, which was particularly stylish and conspicuous. He was the commander of the last defender of the Hangu Pass, who was ordered to guard the Hangu Pass.

Since the beginning of this year, the military and civilians of Hangu Pass began to retreat towards Xianyang on a large scale, Hangu Pass is the focus of the road to operate, the military and the people are his ideas to try to feed, and his loyalty to him is also higher, compared to the Qin people who can't eat in other places, the Qin people around Hangu Pass are still living a more nourishing life, although there is labor and military service, but anyway, there is still food, clothing, not much money, but it can still be spent, so an order, the soldiers and civilians here are also without saying a word, and they gave up the family business here, Heading towards Xianyang.

Here are concentrated Lu Chao's military workshops and other important factories, these must be retreated to Xianyang City, a New Year, the first to go is these workshops and craftsmen, then the army and the young, the last to withdraw is the civilians, and in order to ensure a smooth retreat, Qian Zhongyi led 20,000 people, here for the last hold.

"Father!" Qian Zhongyi's eldest son, Qian Ming, walked over and stood beside him, looking at the dense artillery and countless siege equipment of the Han army in the distance, his face looked a little pale.

"What, scared?" Qian Zhongyi glanced at his eldest son, and said with some dissatisfaction.

"The child is not afraid." Qian Ming perked up, "In the past two years, I have followed my father to charge into battle, which time is not my son rushing to the front, but this time, is our perseverance meaningful?" ”

"Meaning?" Qian Zhongyi glanced at his son and laughed: "Behind us, there are thousands of old and weak women and children who are retreating towards Xianyang, every day we hold on, they will be a little more complete, every day we hold on, Xianyang will have one more day to prepare, His Majesty the Emperor is preparing to make a decisive battle with the Han army in Xianyang." That is the battle that will decide the life and death of our Qin State, do you say that it makes sense for us to stick here? ”

Qian Ming was silent for a moment: "Father, how sure do you think we will win this decisive battle?" ”

Hearing his son say this, Qian Zhongyi was also silent, and only said after a while: "If you don't fight, you don't know at all, if you don't fight, who will know?" Until the dust settles, nothing will be conclusive. There are many examples of turning defeat into victory in history, as long as we Qin people are united, there may not be no chance of turning the tables. ”

"I hope so!" Qian Ming hung his head.

"As a general, you are so lacking in confidence, doesn't it make the generals under your command even more frightened, and your subordinates are all looking at you!" Seeing that Qian Ming couldn't fight his spirits, Qian Zhongyi was a little angry.

"I know." Qian Ming nodded, "Father." Last night, I asked my second uncle to take their family, as well as my second brother and little sister out of the city. Mother is dead or alive. But she also promised that I wouldn't tell you about it, and now, the second uncle and them, I'm afraid that they have entered the area controlled by the Han army. ”

Qian Zhongyi looked back in amazement. Looking at his son, his face slowly turned red, and he raised his hand sharply. There was a crisp snap, and there were suddenly five red handprints on the left side of Qian Ming's face.

"Bastard, you rebelled, you, you actually sent your family away, this, if this leaks out, won't it make the soldiers in the city disheartened?" Qian Zhongyi's whole body trembled with anger, but he had to lower his voice. The surrounding generals were stunned when they saw the general suddenly slap the little general.

Qian Ming's voice was also lowered, but he stared at his father without fear: "Father, in fact, you also know that we are just making the last struggle, since this is the case, why drag the second uncle and their family, as well as the second brother and sister, to die here together?" ”

"Who says you're going to die in the city?" Qian Zhongyi said calmly: "As long as we defend the city, we can ensure the safety of everyone, and to defend the city, the first thing is to work together." ”

"Now the war is not what it used to be, look at the artillery under the city, which part of the city is safe? Within the range of the artillery, there is a possibility of being killed, even if they can get away with the artillery fire, when the city is broken, will you let them survive? Qian Mingdao.

Qian Zhongyi wilted suddenly, and only after a while did he say: "Qian Ming, do you know why His Majesty the Emperor appointed me to guard Hangu Pass and promoted me to be a general?" ”

Qian Ming sneered: "What's not to understand about this, because there are countless Han troops who died under your hands, and their twentieth army was half-crippled by you, let you defend it, and you will never worry that you will surrender, because the Han army will never let you go." Then Li Mingjun must eat your flesh raw and sleep on your skin. ”

"Not only Li Mingjun, but also Zhao Xilie, compared to Li Mingjun, Zhao Xilie's status is higher and more influential, and Li Mingjun's command is more of Zhao Xilie's elite troops back then." Qian Zhongyi laughed, "So His Majesty the Emperor appointed me to guard the town because he knew that I would fight to the end and would not surrender." Because I surrendered, it was also a dead word. So Qian Ming, I left them, firstly, to stabilize the morale of the army, and secondly, if you really want to die, the family dies together, and there is also a companion on Huangquan Road, so that it will not be too lonely, with you and me on Huangquan Road, they also have to worry about being bullied by people, no, by ghosts, your uncle, and your brother, they are too weak. If you send them to Han-controlled areas now, do you think the Han will let them go? ”

"I heard that there is no crime of joint sin on the Han side, they are all one person doing things and one person is responsible, our father and son have enmity with them, uncles, younger brothers and sisters, they have never been on the battlefield."

"You're always so naïve. Well, since this is already the case, I have nothing to say, so I hope that as you said, they are living well in the Han Dynasty and will not be implicated by us! It's just that they don't have the power to operate, even if they go to the Han Kingdom, how can they survive? ”

"In the past year, I have exchanged all my belongings for money, entrusted people to store them in the Han bank, and I handed over all the vouchers to my second brother, if they really won't be affected by us, with this money, it will not be a problem for them to survive in Han." Qian Mingdao.

Qian Zhongyi looked at his son for a long time, as if he only knew him today, "When did you start doing this?" ”

"At the time of the Chinese New Year." Qian Ming said: "At that time, I knew that our Great Qin was going to end. ”

"Okay, good, you're so thoughtful that you even hid it from me." Qian Zhongyi smiled bitterly, "Since they are gone, our father and son will have a good deal with the Han people, last year I broke the Han army in Jinyang, killing countless wounds, today I entered Jinyang, I was the forward when attacking, and I was in the back when I retreated, I have seen a lot of the Han army, and the battle is old. ”

"The son wants to live and die with the father." Qian Ming said loudly.

Qian Zhongyi nodded with satisfaction, although his son did a lot of things without him, but it was because of filial piety and family affection, but it was blameless, he wanted to encourage his son a few more words, but the words he said were completely drowned out by the sound of shelling that suddenly sounded under the city.

Under the city, hundreds of artillery guns opened fire together, the momentum was so loud that everyone was shocked, except for the roar of the artillery when the artillery fired, nothing else could be heard in the ears, and the Han army's position, which was clearly visible just now, was instantly filled with a cloud of smoke.

Qian Ming threw his father down at the base of the city wall and covered his father tightly with his body, but as soon as his waist tightened, his father pulled him over, and instead pressed him under him.

"Daddy!" He shouted loudly, only to find that he could not even hear the voice.

The ground shook and the mountains shook, the entire Hangu Pass city was trembling, shaking, it seemed that it could collapse at any time, dense cannonballs flew over, hit the wall, fell in the city wall, shot over the city wall into the pass, closed the pass, and immediately fell into a sea of fire.

"Fight back, father, fight back now!" After the first round of shelling, Qian Ming turned over and sat up, drew his knife and wanted to rush towards his artillery position.

"I don't need to!" Qian Zhongyi sat against the wall, "Our artillery range can't hit their artillery positions at all, which is why I hide our artillery, and the reason why it is scattered, we can't destroy their artillery positions, so we can only try to save our artillery positions and let them play a role when the Han army is attacking the city, I don't believe that the Han army is cast in iron and steel, and one cannon can still blow up their siege equipment and destroy their will to siege." Let their flesh fly and rivers of blood. ”

Qian Zhongyi's self-confidence is not unreasonable, after Lu Chao was stationed in Hangu Pass, one of the things he did the most was to strengthen the city wall of Hangu Pass, outside the original city wall, and rebuilt a thick barrier with reinforced concrete, which made the solid artillery of the Han army hit it, at most leaving a pit, it was difficult to cause substantial damage to this completely integrated wall, and although the Qin army's artillery had a short range and extremely unreliable quality, it often exploded, but the artillery position on the city wall, But they are all hidden in the cement cannon holes, and they can't be moved, and they can't adjust the angle, but Hangu Pass is such an attack surface, and dozens of artillery pieces can seal this attack surface.

arranged for his son to go to the city to pacify the army, but Qian Zhongyi was bent on the waist, checking the gun emplacements one by one on the city wall, what reassured him was that although the artillery fire of the Han army destroyed most of the buildings on the city wall, these gun emplacements were safe and sound, the only thing to worry about was that the gunners were pale, obviously, the shelling of this scale made them also greatly shocked.

Good words comforted these gunners, and Qian Zhongxin looked at the safe and sound city walls and artillery, and his heart suddenly increased a little more confidence. (To be continued.) )