Liu Sigu led 20,000 troops to return to Guanzhong, they were stationed in Lantian Pass, Lantian Pass is located in the southernmost part of Lantian County, close to Shangzhou, in fact, Shangzhou and Guanzhong are bounded by Lantian Pass.

This area is the Jungnan Mountains, with high mountains and dense forests, deep ravines, and very complex terrain, even a million troops can hide.

In a big cowhide tent, Liu Sigu was standing in front of the map and pondering, this battle is not easy to fight, their strength is not an absolute advantage, just slightly more than the other party, their biggest advantage is that the Tang army does not know that their 20,000 troops exist, this is the key to whether they can defeat the other party.

There are four roads in Guanzhong from Hanzhong, Meridian Road, Luogu Road, Baochuan Road and Chencang Road, these four roads are all west of Chang'an, among which the fastest way to Chang'an, and the best way to go, is the Meridian Road, Liu Sigu is almost certain that the Tang Army will take the Meridian Road to kill Chang'an.

Because the premise of their northward march is that Chang'an is unguarded, they must seize Chang'an as quickly as possible, and they don't have to worry about being ambushed by the enemy, and it is inevitable for the army to take the meridian road.

The plan became clearer and clearer, and the key to winning this battle was to accurately and accurately block the enemy and cut off their retreat, not an hour earlier or an hour later.

Liu Sigu looked at the distance from Lantian Pass to Meridian Valley, one hundred and twenty miles, a one-and-a-half-day march, and it was time to leave.

Liu Sigu pondered for a long time and said: "Pass my order, the army is ready to go!" ”

.......

After three days of marching, the Southern Tang army finally walked out of the Meridian Valley, and it was already one shift in the night, and the soldiers were exhausted and exhausted, so Wei Gao immediately ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot.

At this time, Tian Xiuwen came angrily and asked, "Marshal Wei, why don't you march overnight and capture Chang'an before dawn?" ”

Wei Gao was extremely disgusted with this eunuch who constantly interfered in military affairs, forced himself to send troops, and kept urging the soldiers to speed up along the way, but now the soldiers' physical strength can no longer hold on, and they are not allowed to rest, and they have to march overnight, which is treating soldiers as livestock.

Wei Gao restrained his anger and said: "Tian Jian Army, we have only rested for three hours in two days of marching, and some soldiers have already fallen, if we march again, we will only fall more, the enemy army has not encountered, but we have lost half of it, how can we explain it to the Son of Heaven?" What if the soldiers rebel and disperse and there are no soldiers available? ”

Fighting poison with poison, Wei Gao also used the Son of Heaven to say things, and even moved out soldiers to rebel, Tian Xiuwen couldn't speak for a long time, he had to say stupidly: "Then rest for two hours!" ”

With that, he turned and left the tent, and walked towards the periphery with a face full of anger, he wanted to go out to get some fresh air, and he was so disgusted that he vomited in the army full of sweat and body odor.

Tian Wenxiu walked to the periphery, only to see several scouts hurrying with a man, and he asked, "What's the matter?" ”

The head of the scout brigade commander said: "Qi Yu supervised the army, this is the henchman sent by the enemy's deputy general Zhang Xiaolong, he came to report that the 30,000 troops leaving Chang'an is a trap, and they have returned." ”

Tian Wenxiu's eyes narrowed and asked, "Has the 30,000 army returned to Chang'an?" ”

"Not yet!" Zhang Xiaolong's pro-soldier road.

Tian Wenxiu nodded, and said to several scouts: "I know, you continue to patrol the sentry, this person is handed over to me, and I will take him to see the boss." ”

The scout brigade commander did not dare to disobey, so he had to salute and lead his men away.

Tian Wenxiu said to the messenger: "Go to me and tell me!" After making it clear, I'll take you to see Wei Dashuai again. ”

"Obey!"

The soldiers who reported the news followed Tian Wenxiu to the south, Tian Wenxiu's eyes flashed with a hint of murderous intent, and he glanced at his subordinates, and several of his subordinates nodded knowingly.

As soon as the messenger followed them into the big tent, a Tian Wenxiu attendant stepped forward and covered his mouth, and the sharp dagger stabbed him in the back of the heart.

Tian Wenxiu looked coldly at the messenger dying in extreme fear and doubt, he would never let Wei Gao find an excuse to withdraw the army.

At the same time as receiving the gold medal from the Son of Heaven, Tian Wenxiu also received a secret letter written to him by Song Chaofeng, Wei Gao's Jiannan Army supports Nanya and the Prince, and it is always a threat to the Shence Army, it is best to use this opportunity to get rid of them, if Chang'an is really a trap, then let the Jiannan Army jump.

........

Two hours later, at the fourth watch, the army continued to move north, and the goal of the Southern Tang Army was Chang'an, they no longer stayed, and held their breath to kill Chang'an.

Tian Wenxiu unknowingly fell into the rear army.

When the morning was about to dawn, the team passed through a forest, and suddenly the drums in the woods were loud, and a cavalry of 3,000 people came out, cutting the marching team into two sections, and the Southern Tang army was caught off guard, and there was a great chaos.

At this moment, the north kept remembering the sound of the trumpet, and an army of nearly 30,000 men appeared hundreds of paces away, they were lined up in a neat and murderous manner.

Zhu Jinqing raised his big knife and shouted, "Kill!" ”

"Kill—"

The 30,000 army attacked and killed the Southern Tang Army hundreds of steps away, Zhang Xiaolong didn't expect the final result to be the same, the Southern Tang Army didn't listen to his advice, or went north, he let out a long sigh in his heart.

At this time, the Tang army was disturbed by 3,000 cavalry and could not organize an effective formation, Wei Gao saw that it was too late to form a formation, so he had to shout: "All armies face each other!" ”

The Southern Tang army was in its own formation, shouting and killing, their strength was originally greater than the other party, how could the three thousand cavalry continue to run and impact in the large array, tearing the Southern Tang army into pieces, it is difficult to organize an effective combat formation, and the Zhu Zhu Qin army is defeated and retreated.

At this moment, there was also a horn sound from behind, and Tian Wenxiu, who was in the rear army, found that an army had also been killed from the south, and hurriedly fled to the west with the guards.

Tian Wenxiu took an extremely bad head, he took the lead in fleeing, and the soldiers of the rear army also fled, the army was defeated, and the army of 20,000 Zhu Jun came up from behind, and the Southern Tang Army completely collapsed, and the soldiers lost their armor and fled to the west.

Wei Gao suddenly heard the soldiers shouting, "Marshal, our army has all fled." ”

Wei Gao turned around, only to see the soldiers behind him scattered and fled, less than 10,000 of the more than 40,000 troops left, the enemy's cavalry wantonly killed the fleeing routs in the run, let the soldiers kneel and beg bitterly, it was difficult to escape death, in the distance, an enemy army of 20,000 people was killing his back.

Wei Gao burst into tears, and he had to shout: "Retreat!" Retreat to the west! ”

The last 10,000 soldiers retreated westward under the leadership of Wei Gao, Zhu Zhu's army pursued closely, and the Southern Tang army was defeated, and was chased and killed by Zhu Zhu's army all the way, with corpses all over the place, and countless surrenderers.

At noon, Wei Gao fled to Sizhuyuan, which is very close to Luogu Road, he began to collect the remnants of the army, more than 40,000 troops, and finally was able to collect less than 5,000 remnants, and the deputy general Li Yuanliang was also killed by Zhu Jinqing, and even the supervising army Tian Wenxiu was gone, I don't know whether he died in the chaos or had fled.

Wei Gao didn't know that it was Tian Xiuwen who took the lead in escaping, which caused the rout of the whole army.

Wei Gao waited until the afternoon, and there were no remnants of the army, so he had to sigh and lead more than 4,600 listless remnants of the army to withdraw to Luogu Road.

When Wei Gao arrived in Hanzhong, the prison soldier Tian Wenxiu was already waiting for him with the sword of the gold medal monk Fang.

Tian Wenxiu immediately announced that Wei Gao would be removed from all positions and titles, and that he would be escorted back to Chengdu to listen to the fate of the Son of Heaven.

He also ordered Guo Yao to temporarily serve as the envoy of Hanzhong and rectify the army stationed in Hanzhong.

Tian Wenxiu personally led more than 100 soldiers to escort Wei Gao back to Chengdu, and at this time, his express had already been sent to Chengdu first.

'Greedy for merit, defenseless, regardless of the soldiers' hard work, high-intensity marching, so that the soldiers were exhausted and unable to resist Zhu Zhu's army, in the face of Zhu Zhu's army's attack, they failed to organize an effective formation, and were finally defeated by the enemy, Wei Gao should bear the first responsibility.......'

When the news reached Chengdu, the government and the opposition were in an uproar, Wei Gao and Li Yuanliang were both famous generals who were good at leading troops to fight, and they were wiped out by the simple-minded Zhu Jinqing, which was unimaginable.

At this time, news came out that the responsibility for this defeat lay with the supervising army Tian Wenxiu, Wei Gao didn't want to send troops, but was forced by Tian Wenxiu to send troops, and finally fell into the trap laid by Zhu Jinqing.

This news made the ministers extremely indignant, and the ministers headed by Zhang Yanxun of Xiangguo wrote one after another, demanding that the Son of Heaven thoroughly investigate, find out the cause of Wei Gao's defeat, and severely punish the real responsible.