The resistance of the Sword Pavilion is extremely weak, which greatly surprised Wang Fuchen's expectations, originally in his estimate, although Wang Ping Fan will not be determined to stick to the Chengdu defense line, but also will not give up rashly, the number of Zhou troops currently stagnant in Sichuan is quite a lot, aside from those local requisition, forcibly 'drawn' Ding Zhuang, Minfu, auxiliary soldiers, Wang Ping Domain's 'elite' main force is at least more than 30,000 people, and such a huge army to move in the direction of central and southern Sichuan, must take a lot of time, therefore, he thinks, On this route from Baoning to Chengdu, the Zhou army was bound to carry out "layers of blockades", constantly consuming and delaying the advance speed of the Han army, and buying time for the transfer of the main force.

However, judging from the battlefield situation of the Sword Pavilion, this is not the case, the garrison troops deployed by the Southern Zhou Army in the Sword Pavilion Pass are less than 2,000 people, and most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, and there are only more than 15 or 60 people who can really fight, and the armor is not even, the weapons are incomplete, and even the few 'doors' of small cannons that were originally fixed on the wall were dismantled and transported away overnight, therefore, after Liu Zheng's siege heavy artillery bombardment, the morale of the defenders was almost collapsed, and the infantry only carried out two tentative 'sexual' attacks and successfully took it down.

The Sword Pavilion Pass is very steep, guarding the main road to Chengdu, since ancient times, it is a famous military place Wang Fuchen is very suspicious in his heart, he thought in his heart, even if it is an abandoned son, even if it is a suspicious soldier, then I am afraid it is not necessary to be so simple, right? !

At this time, his troops had crossed Jianzhou and marched straight to Tongchuan, and as far as the current situation was concerned, there were two important military passes on the road leading to Chengdu, one was Zitong City, and the other was Mianzhou.

Like Jianzhou, Zitong and Mianzhou are also important military barriers to defend Chengdu, all dynasties, there are heavy troops stationed here, Sichuan has a peculiar topography, the whole province is like a big basin, the surrounding area is as high as a steep wall, it is extremely difficult to enter, but the center is a flat river, very suitable for the battle of the large corps, so, as long as the defense of Zitong and Mianzhou is broken, then the main force of Wang Ping Fan has absolutely nothing to hide.

At noon, Wang Fuchen's Chinese army brigade arrived at a small town called Hekou, which was very small and militarily important. This town is located on the north and south official roads, close to the Zitong River, and there is a small river transport wharf outside the town, which is extremely convenient for 'traffic'.

However, at this time, there were not many residents in the town, Wang Fuchen's personal guards searched the small sedan chair for three full three circles, and only found three or four old townspeople, but they certainly couldn't ask anything valuable from their mouths, the dialect was strange, most of Wang Fuchen's soldiers were from Gansu or Shaanxi, and it was very difficult to communicate with the local residents, and as far as the current situation was concerned, these residents were quite hostile to the army, and if they were not forced to do so, they would basically not have any contact with the soldiers.

The weather in November is already quite cold, and the midday sun is shining down, but you don't feel any warmth. Wang Fuchen took a few of his own soldiers to several small hills on the outskirts of the town to observe the terrain, and found that the surroundings were quite flat, and the horizon was also very open. At this time, the follow-up artillery brigade and baggage battalion were still dozens of miles away, and the Sichuan War had been 'chaotic' for a long time, and the official road had been in disrepair for a long time, so the troops had to pull out a "long snake formation" and slowly advance with a wriggling.

The big tent of the Chinese army is set up in the only big mansion in the center of the town, the war 'chaos' for many years, the town of Hekou is almost in ruins, even several large archways at the entrance of the town's 'gate' have collapsed, scattered 'chaotic' gravel can be seen everywhere, and the mottled bluestone can only be faintly seen"...... Filial piety 'woman' Niu Yang's ...... The fourth year of Wanli...... Adorned with words such as "......", judging from the ruins, this should have been a very prosperous town a few decades ago, but after the war, all this has long since ceased to exist.

As soon as Wang Fuchen stepped into the barracks of the Chinese army, a junior colonel hurriedly greeted him, and said with a thousand reports, "Qi Yu is handsome, Zhang Qian, the commander of the cavalry battalion of the right forward, sent a horse to report that their men and horses have arrived at Yangjiazui, and Zitong City is already ......in sight."

"Hmm!" Wang Fuchen snorted lightly, and casually threw the whip to the junior colonel, "What else did he say?!" ”

"Back to your lord's words: The brothers who reported the news also said that they found that there seemed to be a large number of enemy troops in Zitong City! And ......," he said cautiously, bowing his head, "and there are cannons on the city!" ”

"What?!" Wang Fuchen was taken aback and said in amazement, "Cannon?!" ……”

"Yes," Xiao Xiao looked determined, and repeated emphatically, "There are cannons on the city wall of Zitong County!" ”

Wang Fuchen's face was full of suspicion, and he said suspiciously, "Zhang Niu'er is not mistaken, right?" - Isn't it a gun and a pine cannon?! ”

"This ......" Xiao Xiao was stunned, and he couldn't answer.

"Where's the person who reported the news?!"

"Back to my lordship, the brother who reported the news is very tired, and he is now drinking water and eating bread in the room!" The Colonel replied.

"You call him over, I have something to say."

After a while, the communications officer sent by the forward unit was brought to Wang Fuchen. Wang Fuchen took a look at it, this is a very young junior officer, he has been in the camp for so long, but he has not even taken off the coat on his body, and the 'legs' on his feet have not been loosened, obviously planning to eat something and go back immediately.

"Yang Liuwa, the capital of the lowly cavalry barracks, has seen the handsome!"

"Excuse me!" Wang Fuchen nodded, "You said that there are cannons in Zitong City?!" ”

"If you go back to Dashuai, there are indeed cannons in Zitong City!" Yang Liuwa looked respectful and said affirmatively, "We saw it with our own eyes!" ”

"Okay, then tell me how you 'saw the Fa with your own eyes'?!"

"Back to the marshal, after we rode the military camp to Yangjiazui, President Zhang Qian ordered us to send a few brothers to the outside of Zitong County to have a look, as soon as our horse team went up, the cannon over there went off!" Yang Liuwa clasped her fists with both hands, "At that time, it was a team led by the lowly position, and the lowly duty once rushed to the outside of the moat, and it was clear that it was indeed a cannon, not a gun or a pine pole, it was an iron cannon, and a guy could fight five miles down!" ”

Wang Fuchen's face suddenly became very ugly, "You can see clearly, how many cannons are there in the city?!" ”

"Back to the marshal, I only see four or five 'doors', and I don't know the others!" Yang Liuwa's face showed a hint of shame, and he added, "But ...... Qi Yu is handsome, the head of Zitong County is playing the banner of Wang Ping Domain! ”

"Oh?!!" Wang Fuchen looked at the officer blankly, and it took a while to come back to his senses, and then he waved his hand and ordered the soldiers next to him, "Reward five taels of silver!" ”

When this officer came down, he couldn't help frowning, he had a headache, what the hell is this Wang Ping Fan doing?! Do you want to stick to Zitong? What's the point of holding on to Zitong, even if he can hold it for a while, what good can he do, he is a guest in Sichuan, isolated, if he doesn't run back to Guizhou and Hunan quickly, even if he takes advantage of some small advantages, what's the use?

After thinking about it for a long time, he didn't come up with a very convincing result, although he has been partnering with Wang Pingfan in the northwest for the past few years, but they are all echoing from afar, and there is a care between advance and retreat, in fact, there are only two or three times to meet, so although the distance is not far, there is no 'private' person 'friendship', and it is even less able to have a deep understanding.

This time, Wang Pingfan's head was hidden, and a battle was so confusing that it was against common sense, and Wang Fuchen was 'dewed' on his head, I really don't know what his idea was on his side.

He walked slowly in the barracks, back and forth for more than half an hour, but there was still no result in his heart, and after hesitating for a while, he turned around and returned to the bookcase, pulled a notebook, and wrote, "Inspector Anxi General Zhang Gongjunjian: ......"

"Boom ......" a loud noise, a huge sound 'wave' hit, several towns made the house beams tremble, Wang Fuchen's pen trembled, a large ball of ink dripped on the letterhead, the good rice paper dyed 'messy', he was furious, "snap ......" sound, Shengsheng pinched the 'Mao' pen into two, and shouted angrily, "Come on!" ……”

An old soldier entered in response, knelt down on one knee, and hugged his fists, "Master! ”

"What's going on out there?!" Wang Fuchen was full of anger, "In the barracks, where did the strange noise come from?!" ……”

Without waiting for the old soldier to agree, an officer crashed in before he could make a report, and couldn't wait to report loudly, "Report!!" …… The 'gate' of the Qiyu army, our army was attacked by the enemy!! ......" he gasped and pointed out of town with his backhand, "Dashuai, Dashuai...... Outside...... Outside, many small boats came up from the Zitong River, shooting arrows and cannons at our camp......"

"What?! ......" Wang Fuchen was almost incredulous, strode around the bookcase, grabbed the officer's shirt, and said angrily, "Where are our sentry detectives?!" - When you set up camp, didn't General Ben personally order you to release the horse team outward?! ”

"I don't know ......" The officer was lifted up by Wang Fuchen, his face was flushed, and this time he forcibly clasped his fists and saluted, "I have indeed sent a sentry to the upper reaches of the Zitong River to investigate...... But he hasn't come back until now......"

"'Bastard' stuff!! ......" Wang Fuchen threw the officer to the ground fiercely, instigating him to roll a few somersaults in succession, and then he did not get rid of his hatred, and went up and kicked him again.

"Newspaper!! ......" A soldier came in a hurry from outside the 'door', knelt on the ground, and reported loudly, "Marshal Qi, General Niu Shen of the rear infantry barracks, Zhou Guerrilla, and General Liu Zheng of the artillery brigade have reported: The king thief brigade was found on both sides of the official road, and now it is resisting it, and the marshal is asked to send reinforcements quickly!" ”

Wang Fuchen's 'chest' was furious, and his black face suddenly turned purple. At this time, he stared at the little soldier who reported the news tightly, and his eyes seemed to be about to erupt fire, and the little soldier was sweating profusely, and his whole body trembled like chaff.

There was silence in the room, and the roar of artillery fire, the impact of heavy objects, the impact of blades, and the shouts of fighting poured in like a 'tide' in the room, and the faces of the people in the room were different, and no one dared to breathe loudly.

After being silent for a long time, the muscles and flesh on Wang Fuchen's cheeks suddenly relaxed, and at this time, he was kind to his face and full of 'spring' wind, and said warmly, "Hmm! - Good! He pointed to the little soldier, turned his head, and smiled at the old soldier, "Weigh ten taels of silver for this little rabbit cub!" ”

The little soldier was loose, and the cold sweat on his back drenched his clothes, and his expression was sluggish, as if he was in a dream.

Wang Fuchen smiled slightly, reached out and took the waist knife and tied it to his body, strode towards the 'door', and did not forget to smile at Xiaobing, patting him on the shoulder to show encouragement.

As soon as he walked out of the 'gate' of the camp of the handsome tent, his lieutenant officer rode a war horse, rushed from the corner of the street, saw Wang Fuchen from a distance, hurriedly rolled the saddle and fell off the horse, fell down on one knee, and reported loudly, "Qi Yu En Shuai, our army is under attack!" ……”

"Got it!" Wang Fuchen took a long time, slowly stepped on the war horse, glanced slightly ahead, and asked in a deep voice, "How is the battle situation?!" ”

"Okay!" The lieutenant officer gasped and said, clasping his hands into fists, "Qi Yu Enshuai, the thief brigade is attacking from the upper reaches of the Zitong River, and there are some rangers on the outskirts of the town, but although the momentum is terrifying, it is only 'shooting' arrows and cannons from a distance, and it is not very urgent!" ”

Wang Fuchen was worried about the rear team, but it was inconvenient to ask directly at this time, he said lightly, "How many people have arrived in the Chinese army now!" ”

"Back to Enshuai, in addition to the vanguard cavalry barracks, Enshuai's personal guard battalion, the Zhongjun standard battalion and the gentleman's 'door' under the curtain are all here!" Zhongjun recalled it carefully and added, "In the future, I have also seen the men and horses of the infantry battalion, but it seems that it is only one of them!" ”

"Good!" Wang Fuchen nodded and said, "Have you calculated, how many people are there in the town now?!" ”

"Returning to Enshuai, the last general is estimated to 'touch', there should always be more than eight or nine thousand people!" The Chinese officer looked a little ashamed, "But the incident started in a hurry, and it was not checked in time, and it is still unclear what the actual number is!" ”

Wang Fuchen's heart sank. The total strength of his troops totaled more than 17,000 people, and the marching sequence of his march to Zitong was: cavalry battalions to fight the vanguard, about 1,300 cavalry; The Chinese army responded in the center, and the combat units included the commander-in-chief's personal guard battalion, the standard battalion, and the Chinese army's yamen battalion, plus civilian personnel and some servants, with a total strength of about 7,800 people; It was followed by the infantry battalion and an artillery brigade temporarily assigned by Daniel Zhang to command him, with only more than 4,000 combat soldiers, and the rest were auxiliaries, carrying a large number of ordnance, grain and other supplementary materials.

Judging from the current battle situation, the situation is really very dangerous, the forward cavalry unit will not pay attention to him for the time being, the middle army and the rear team will be attacked on a large scale at the same time, this is obviously a long-planned ambush action by the enemy, imagine that as long as one of them is destroyed 'sexual' blow, then this army is afraid that there will be a danger of annihilation.

Wang Fuchen groaned slightly, and the officer of the DPRK and China asked, "Can the rear team still be contacted?!" ”

"Returning to the grace! Since the beginning of the attack, the last general sent people to the rear team to report the enemy's situation, during which General Niu Shen, Zhou Guerrilla and Artillery Brigade Liu Zheng Liu also sent messengers, but a moment later, thousands of enemy troops were suddenly killed in the direction of Long'an, cutting off the Zitong official road...... "He paused, and suddenly coughed heavily at Wang Fuchen," ...... The last general is incompetent, and now the people of our Chinese army can't get by, and the people in their rear team can't get over either! ”

Wang Fuchen's expression remained unchanged, and this matter had long been expected by him, and Wang Pingfan's operational deployment was obvious: using the Zitong River to suddenly launch a rapid attack from the upper reaches to pinch his own Chinese army, and then his main force bypassed Hekou Town, cut off the connection between the Chinese army and the rear army, and attempted to annihilate his infantry battalion, artillery brigade and logistics baggage troops in the wilderness. After the completion of this combat goal, the lone army that returned to the army to besiege and besiege Hekou Town, with more to fight less, completely annihilated the army of Wang Fuchen.

If it were himself, he would do the same, Wang Fuchen thought in his heart.

At this time, looking around, the faces of the soldiers around him were pale, and their morale was low and they were extremely confused, and he shouted loudly, "Brothers, the thief army is at the end of the road, and hundreds of thousands of heavenly soldiers of my Han Dynasty are here in an instant, and this generation is a clown who jumps off the beam, but he is just dying!" Turning his head, he pointed to the lieutenant officer kneeling down in the middle of the street, "You immediately take 2,000 people to the edge of the town to set up defenses, and don't let the thieves take a step forward!" ”

The lieutenant officer replied loudly, "The last general obeys!" With that, he hurriedly jumped on his horse and galloped out of the town.

Wang Fuchen 'drawn' his long knife and shouted, "The rear team cannot afford to lose!" Guard Battalion! - The whole team! As soon as he pulled the reins of his horse, the horse turned around, "Let's get the brothers behind!" ”