On the side of the young marshal's army, in order not to give Qin Ting too much time to respond, on the third day after taking Wuguan, he had just sent Li Shang to lead the young marshal's army to enter Hanzhong, Xiang Kang took the fierce general Long He as the vanguard, and led the main force of the young marshal army to open to Yaoguan, but the young marshal army who was trapped in the narrow mountain road and carried a large amount of grain and grass and military supplies could not get up quickly, and could only march about forty miles a day, and it was conservatively estimated that it would take at least seven days to reach the pass, and there was almost nothing to stop the Qin army from increasing its troops at the pass.

The trouble is not only the road, after going deep into the mountains for more than a day, Long Ji, who opened the road in front, sent someone to send an urgent report, saying that the Qin army Li Caisuo, who took the initiative to withdraw from Wuguan, built a temporary defense line in the precipitous terrain ahead, and blocked the westward advance of the young marshal's army, and the Long and army had immediately launched an attack on the Qin army's defense line.

"It's not a small amount of courage, but it dares to die and struggle." Xiang Kang snorted coldly, and then instructed the messenger of the Long and Soldier Army: "Go and tell General Long and say that after he defeats the Tyrant Qin army, don't chase and kill too far, the mountain road is narrow, and you must prevent the Tyrannical Qin army from arranging ambushes." ”

The messenger of the dragon and the army sang a promise, and immediately Pegasus went back to convey Xiang Kang's password, and Xiang Kang, who was full of confidence in the dragon, no longer paid attention to the matter, and took the main force of the young marshal army to the west calmly, but to Xiang Kang's surprise, more than an hour later, when the main force of the young marshal army saw the banner of the dragon and the army, the front was still shouting to kill Zhentian, and the battle was still continuing, Xiang Kang saw Daqi and said: "How is it possible?" Without the city wall pass, how could the Tyrannical Qin army be able to hold off the dragon for so long? ”

It turned out that the blocking position chosen by the Qin army was not only extremely steep, but the attacker's forces could not be deployed at all, and the road located on the mountainside was directly dug up, and the soldiers of Long He had no way to touch the Qin army's fortifications, so they could only cover with bows and arrows while carrying earth and stones to pave the road, so the progress of the attack was very slow.

Fortunately, after all, the young marshal army has strong troops, constantly carrying earth and rocks before and after, paying a certain price, after all, it still broke through the defensive position of the Qin army before sunset, more than 2,000 Qin troops were forced to retreat, and the young marshal army did not dare to pursue too far when the sky was about to be dark, and was forced to withdraw the troops after only pursuing more than ten miles, so that most of the Qin army escaped smoothly.

The next day, it was still the vanguard of Long Ji's department, but at noon, Long He sent someone to report again, saying that Li Caijun had established a blocking position at the dangerous point ahead, Xiang Kang did not dare to be careless this time, and hurriedly asked the messenger: "What is the situation of the position chosen by the Tyrannical Qin army?" What's arranged? ”

"Return to the right general." The messenger of the Long Ji Army replied: "The Tyrannical Qin army chose to build a fortress on the bank of the Danshui this time, built a fortress wall and a sheep and horse wall, and dug up the road in front of the sheep and horse wall, and introduced the river to fill it, which is very difficult to attack. ”

Xiang Kang's face changed a little, and he hurriedly asked, "How many troops are there in the Tyrannical Qin army?" ”

"Returning to the right general, the tyrannical Qin army has two thousand-man flags, and the strength should be about two thousand." Again, the messenger answered truthfully.

Xiang Kang's face became grim, and he turned to Uncle Zhou next to him and asked, "General Zhou, what do you think?" ”

"If nothing else, Li Caipifu's arrangement should be like this." Uncle Zhou replied: "Divide the army into two groups, one is responsible for blocking our army in the front, and the other army is responsible for destroying the roads in the rear and rushing to build new fortifications. ”

"How to crack?" Xiang Kang asked again.

"Can't crack." Uncle Zhou spread his hands helplessly and said: "There is only one road, and we have no way to intersperse detours, so we can only attack them one by one and move forward slowly." ”

"It is worthy of Li Xin's son, but he didn't disgrace Li Xin." Xiang Kang snorted, and then instructed Long Ji's messenger: "Go and tell Long Ji that after breaking through the position of the Tyrant Qin army, you must chase it to the end with all your might, and don't give the Tyrant Qin army a chance to withdraw calmly." Don't worry about the ambush of the Tyrannical Qin army, I will send a rear army to meet him. ”

After that, Xiang Kang immediately called Zhu Jishi and asked him to lead his headquarters to advance westward first, to help Long Ji attack the blocking position of the Qin army, and also responsible for following the Long Ji army that was pursuing the enemy, so as not to arrange an ambush in the narrow mountain road of the Qin army, so that the Long and the army would encounter danger, and at the same time seize the opportunity of the Qin army's retreat to destroy the enemy as much as possible, not let the Qin army calmly deploy defenses, and delay the advance speed of the young marshal's army.

Xiang Kang's arrangement did not receive satisfactory results, it took a lot of time and a lot of cost, and finally broke through the Qin army's blocking position, although the Long and the army immediately launched a pursuit, but the Qin army retreated too quickly, and the Long and the army were not able to catch much in the pursuit battle, and the sky was already completely dark, and the pursuit of the Long and the army became more difficult, so most of the Qin soldiers still managed to escape. Xiang Kang Wenbao had no choice but to order a change in the queue and let Zhu Jishi serve as the pioneer to replace Long Jijun, who was tired from a long battle.

As Uncle Zhou expected, in the next two days, the Qin army division divided the army into two teams really adopted the strategy of taking turns to build fortifications and fight, and used the narrow mountain road to seriously delay the advance speed of the young marshal's army.

In this regard, Xiang Kang had no choice but to pray for the blessing of the gods, not to let the main force of the Qin army on the battlefield in the Central Plains retreat to Guanzhong first, destroying his strategic plan to attack Xianyang. As for rushing to the city of Yaoguan before the Qin court sent troops to reinforce the pass, Xiang Kang couldn't even think about it.

…………

It stands to reason that Li Cai is so desperate to buy time for Qin Ting, and Qin Ting should seize the opportunity to quickly deploy troops, increase troops and deploy defenses in Guanzhong, and even start to recall the main forces of Zhang Han and Wang Li, and make every effort to defend Guanzhong. But Li Cai, who was desperate on the front line, never dreamed that at this moment in Xianyang City, most of the Xianyang military and civilian officials did not know the bad news that Wuguan had fallen, and the messenger sent back to Xianyang to report the urgency had been secretly imprisoned, and there was no way to contact outsiders at all!

When he first received the news of the loss of Wuguan, Zhao Gao was in a state of despair, and he also planned to immediately send the last ace of the Qin court, Lieutenant Xianyang, to immediately send out the Xianyang Lieutenant Army, the last ace of the Qin court, to reinforce the pass to prevent the young marshal's army from entering the Guanzhong Plain, but after thinking about it, Zhao Gao immediately dispelled this idea.

Zhao Gao didn't dare to act rashly, because once he mobilized the lieutenant army of Gongwei Xianyang, Hu Hai would definitely ask the reason, and once Hu Hai knew that Wuguan was lost, he would definitely be furious and hold the officials responsible, as the head of the hundred officials, Zhao Gao would definitely bear the brunt, and if someone took the opportunity to fan the flames, Zhao Gao would not be the prime minister's throne, but his head would definitely not be able to be kept - how much the officials in the court hated Zhao Gao, Zhao Gao was clear in his heart.

Because of this, Zhao Gao chose to temporarily block the news, just told his younger brother Lang Zhongling Zhao Cheng about the situation, as well as his son-in-law Yan Le, Zhao Cheng and Yan Le were also shocked, knowing that once this matter was announced, Zhao Gao was likely to fall immediately, and he would also suffer from the pond fish, so the two not only supported Zhao Gao to temporarily block the news, but also asked Zhao Gao to find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Then, as in history, the desperate Zhao Gao naturally germinated the idea of killing Hu Hai, but he couldn't make up his mind for a while, couldn't muster up the courage, and didn't know how to deal with the aftermath after killing Hu Hai.

It was also Zhao Gao's bad luck, when he pretended to be sick and did not go to the court, it happened that the Central Plains battlefield also sent an urgent report, saying that Zhang Han's painstaking construction of the flood defense line was broken through by the anti-Qin coalition army, and Zhang Han was forced to give up the Chao Gexi and withdraw to Huai County, but because there was no Zhao Gao in the court to stop it, the news was also directly reported to Hu Hai, Hu Hai was shocked and angry, and immediately sent someone to question Zhao Gao in person, "There is an emergency outside the gate, why is the prime minister not in charge of the court?" ”

Prostrate in front of the messenger, Zhao Gao paused again and again, and promised that he would go to the court to continue to govern the next day, so that he could send the messenger away. However, as soon as the envoy left, the porter suddenly came to report and said, "Prime Minister, there is a secret envoy outside the door who claims to be the right general of the Chu State, and he asks to meet you. ”

"Get out! I don't see anyone now! ”

Zhao Gao roared angrily, but when the door was crawling and crawling back, Zhao Gao's heart moved again, and he hurriedly shouted: "Stop!" What did you just say? The secret envoy of Xiang Kang, the right general of the Chu State, asked to see? ”

Menzi nodded hurriedly, and Zhao Gao suddenly turned his anger into joy, and shouted: "What are you still doing?" Invite him in now! Also, under a ban order, whoever dares to publicize this matter will be killed! ”

In a moment, a disciple of Shusun Tong who was fooled and lame by the teacher was led to Zhao Gao, and after indicating his identity and intentions, he immediately presented a letter written by Xiang Kang to Zhao Gao, Zhao Gao saw that Xiang Kang promised in the letter that he would be crowned a prince after destroying Qin, and that he would eat 3,000 households, and he couldn't help but be ecstatic, and hurriedly ordered people to take Shusun Tong's disciples down to house arrest and hospitality, and then immediately found his own brother Zhao Cheng and son-in-law Yan Le, and told them about Xiang Kang's secret envoy to contact him.

and Zhao Gao are the same raccoon dogs, seeing that Xiang Kang, who has excellent credit, not only promised not to kill Zhao Gao, but also promised a heavy reward, Zhao Cheng and Yan Le persuaded Zhao Gao to consider it in order to survive and keep the glory and wealth. After careful consideration, Zhao Gao found Xiang Kang's messenger again, and asked the messenger to bring a message to Xiang Kang, asking Xiang Kang to divide the old land of Qin into two after the destruction of Qin, so that he and Xiang Kang would each claim the king, and promised that as long as Xiang Kang agreed, he would act as an internal response to Xiang Kang and help Xiang Kang destroy Qin.

After secretly sending away Xiang Kang's envoy, in addition to immediately arranging a coup d'état to kill the monarch, Zhao Gao, who was not stupid enough in military affairs, sent 20,000 Xianyang lieutenant troops south to Lantian to fortify under the pretext of taking precautions, intending to stick to Yaoguan and Lantian and force Xiang Kang to agree to his conditions of splitting the soil and sealing the king.

…………

At the same time, after struggling to support the mountain road for seven days, Li Cai's department, which did not receive a single soldier and a single reinforcement, was finally consumed by most of the young marshal's army, and no longer did the first-class fortress battle, so he could only give up the blockade and retreat to the pass in embarrassment under the pursuit of the young marshal's army. However, even so, Li Cai still felt that the self-army was not sacrificed in vain, at least it seriously delayed the advance speed of the young marshal's army, and bought enough time for the imperial court to respond, and the Qin court must have sent heavy troops to reinforce the pass, and there was great hope for keeping the Guanzhong Plain.

Because of this, a day later, after fleeing to the city of Yaoguan out of breath, he just saw Chen Qiu, the general of the Qin army who had been guarding the pass for many years, Li Cai didn't even have time to wipe the sweat and dust on his face, and immediately asked, "How is it?" How many additional reinforcements did the imperial court send to Yaoguan? ”

"Reinforcements? Did the court send me reinforcements? ”

Chen Qiu's answer almost didn't make Li Cai faint, and in shock, Li Cai directly roared, "What? No reinforcements? It's been twelve days since Wuguan was lost, and the imperial court hasn't sent you reinforcements yet? ”

"General Li, you ask me, who do I ask?" Chen Qiu replied with a wry smile: "Since I received the news from you and knew that Wuguan had been lost, I have been looking forward to the imperial court sending me reinforcements as soon as possible, but until now, the imperial court has not sent me a single reinforcement. ”

Li Cai collapsed directly to the ground, and cried directly, crying loudly: "I worked so hard to stop the thief army, and I died so many loyal and brave soldiers, why didn't I receive it at all?" What is the Imperial Court doing? What is the Emperor doing? Guanzhong is already in danger to this point, why haven't you sent reinforcements to Guanguan until now? Let me work in vain, let my soldiers sacrifice in vain? ”

Seeing that Li Cai was crying pitifully, Chen Qiu could only comfort him with kind words, and strongly persuaded Li Cai to go back to rest as soon as possible, and also generously offered to let Li Cai's army camp outside the north gate of Yaoguan, so that Li Cai's soldiers who were already extremely tired could rest at ease. Li Cai had no choice but to accept Chen Qiu's kindness, and before the young marshal's army arrived at Yaoguan, he quickly crossed the mountain pass with the army and set up camp, and at the same time sent people to Xianyang to report the urgency.

Diametrically opposed to General Li Cai, who fought in vain, when it was completely dark that day, the front team of the young marshal's army sent the news that the Qin court had not sent additional reinforcements to Yaoguan to Xiang Kang, but Xiang Kang was so surprised that he couldn't believe his ears, and asked in a loud voice: "Didn't the tyrannical Qin court send additional reinforcements to Yaoguan?" How is this possible? It's been twelve days since Wuguan was taken by us, why hasn't the Tyrannical Qin Imperial Court sent reinforcements to Yaoguan? ”

"General Right, there are really no reinforcements sent by the Tyrannical Qin Imperial Court outside the city." The envoy of the front team said with a fluttering eyebrow: "Our scouts climbed the Jiangshan next to the pass, and can see clearly on the top of the mountain, except for the tyrannical Qin army in the Guancheng area, there is also a tyrannical Qin army that escaped from the mountain road, and there is no shadow of a tyrannical Qin army. ”

"General Right, this is a rare opportunity." Uncle Zhou hurriedly said: "The last general suggested that we might as well divide the main force into two, one army to protect the grain and grass and carry the heavy baggage, and one army to attack lightly, and rush to Yaoguan as soon as possible to prepare for the siege, so as not to have a long night and many dreams, and the tyrannical Qin court suddenly sent reinforcements to Yaoguan." ”

As soon as Xiang Kang heard that he was in the middle of his mind, he immediately ordered the three generals Chao Zhi, Zheng Bu and Guan Ying to lead the rear army to protect the grain and grass and carry the heavy baggage, and personally led Zhong Liwu, Ding Ji and Zhou Shu and other generals to lead more than 10,000 troops to attack lightly, marching overnight with torches, and successfully rushed to the outside of the city at dawn the next day, and joined the front team led by Long Ji and Zhu Jishi, and then even the camp did not have time to settle down, and immediately ordered the army to cut down trees, hurry up to build siege weapons, and planned to launch a siege in the afternoon of the same day.

The experienced young marshal soldiers moved quickly, and it only took half a day to build a lot of flying ladders, trench bridge cars and crash cars, and also made a lot of torches at hand, so that they could occupy the city at night, Xiang Kang did not hesitate, first ordered the young marshal soldiers to have a full meal of dry food, and then immediately summoned the young marshal generals to arrange siege tactics. But at this time, the soldiers suddenly came to report, saying that South Korean Situ Zhang Liang led a few entourages Pegasus to rush and asked to meet Xiang Kang immediately. Xiang Kang was surprised when he heard this, and said, "Why is he here?" What's the urgency? ”

Strange is strange, as a traverser, of course, Xiang Kang immediately ordered to summon Zhang Liang, and then after a while, Zhang Liang, who was covered in dust, came to Xiang Kang, and complained to Xiang Kang as soon as they met: "General Right, the foreign minister was just a little unwell last night, and he slept a little deeper, and he didn't hear the movement outside the tent, why did you disappear as soon as you opened your eyes?" ”

"Uncle, forgive me, the matter was too urgent last night, so I didn't have time to inform you." Xiang Kang pleaded guilty, and asked suspiciously: "Uncle, why did you catch up so quickly, what's the urgency?" ”

"General Right, have you forgotten that you promised me in Wuguan City that if you find out the name of the Wuguan guard of the Tyrannical Qin army, you will tell the foreign minister?" Zhang Liang asked a little reproachfully, and quickly asked, "How is it?" The guards of the Tyrannical Qin army haven't been replaced, right? Or is it not Chen Qiu? ”

patted his forehead, Xiang Kang, who had indeed forgotten about it, pleaded guilty to Zhang Liang again, and then said: "That's right, our scouts have found out the accurate information, and the guard of the Tyrannical Qin army is the Chen Qiu you said uncle." ”

"Great! If it's really heaven, he wants to destroy the tyrannical Qin! Zhang Liang clapped his hands excitedly, and hurriedly said: "General Right, the foreign minister thinks that you don't need to storm the pass by force, you should send an envoy into the city, and persuade Chen Qiu to take the initiative to open the city and surrender, so that you can take the pass without a single soldier!" ”

"Send an envoy to persuade you to surrender?" Xiang Kang asked in surprise, "Are you sure?" Nine and a half times out of ten times I did this, and I ran for nothing, huh? ”

"General Right rest assured, he is absolutely sure." Zhang Liang nodded vigorously and said: "Although the foreign minister does not know Chen Qiu, the guard general of the violent Qin army, he also knows a lot about him, he is a butcher's son, relying on the accumulation of military merits to get to today, he is very greedy for money, is famous for plucking the feathers of geese, insatiable, like such a philistine villain, as long as he is tempted to make a big profit, he will definitely surrender, give the pass to you to the right general, let the right general you take the mountain pass directly without spending a single soldier." ”

Seeing the famous Zhang Liang speaking so confidently, Xiang Kang was inevitably a little moved, but the young marshal generals didn't think so, and even Uncle Zhou said: "Zhang Situ, although your suggestion is reasonable, if it doesn't succeed, we may have to waste our time in vain." ”

"General Right, I also think it's best to seize the opportunity to attack the city quickly, and don't do things that you are not sure of." Zhong Liwu also said: "If the surrender fails, it is a waste of time, and the Tyrannical Qin Imperial Court takes the opportunity to send reinforcements to Yaoguan, and it will not be so easy for us to take it again." ”

Of course, Zhong Liwu's words also made sense, Xiang Kang was inevitably a little shaken, but Zhang Liang arched his hand and said: "General Right, the foreign minister suggests, it's best to give it a try, the left and right passes are in front of you, and it won't waste too much time to send envoys into the city, and the right general Your soldiers are tired, and the heavy passes are difficult to attack, so it's better to let your soldiers rest for a while trying to surrender, and then send troops to attack the city when the surrender fails, and it won't delay too much effort." ”

Looking at the towering city wall of Yaoguan in the distance, he pondered for a moment in his heart, and found that even if he launched an attack immediately, he might not be sure that he would be able to take the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack Yaoguan Jiancheng in a battle, and the young marshal soldiers were indeed quite tired, Xiang Kang gritted his teeth, but nodded and said: "Okay, don't rush to attack the city first, first send someone to persuade Chen Qiu that philistine villain to surrender the city." ”

Fortunately, although he came in a hurry last night, the famous lobbyist Li Shiqi still insisted on following Xiang Kang to the front line to help Xiang Kang deal with military affairs. After Xiang Kang nodded in agreement, Zhang Liang immediately stepped forward again, attached it to Li Shiqi's ear, and whispered in a low voice......

Perhaps Xiang Kang should not listen to Zhang Liang's advice, and should seize the fighter plane to immediately launch an attack on the city, because at the same time, a piece of good news was suddenly sent into the city of Yaoguan, which was waiting for the battle-Zhao Gao's 20,000 Xianyang lieutenant troops had already arrived at Lantian forty miles behind the pass this morning, and could rush to reinforce the pass at any time. Chen Qiu, the guard general of the Qin army, was overjoyed when he heard the news, and in addition to immediately sending someone to inform the reinforcements of the situation at the pass and asking the reinforcements to come to reinforce the pass as soon as possible, he also strengthened his determination to defend the pass!