The drastic transfer of high-level generals made the soldiers panic, which was also one of the main reasons why the Bingzhou army fell into passive defense. Compared with the unstable military morale, what is more urgent and severe is the shortage of strategic materials, and the multi-year expedition has exhausted the savings of the annexed states for several years, and now the annexed states simply do not have the capital to come back to another big war.

Lu Bu knows this situation in his own heart, why don't others know it? As a result, the defenses of the Bingzhou army were attacked to varying degrees in almost all places, especially Fancheng in Jingzhou and Hangu Pass in Guanzhong.

In the sky above Hangu Pass, the clouds were thick. The snow and rain like rice grains and the biting north wind weaved a huge net over the city pass, and with the rustling sound spread down on the head of the Hangu Pass, the pass was extremely slippery. The soldiers defending the city at the head of the city only wore thin cotton and linen clothes, and even they looked seeping. One by one, standing in the cold wind and snow at the head of the city, they looked shivering.

It's already February, and according to the weather of previous years, it should have passed the snowy season, and the weather should be warmer.

But this year seems to be different from previous years, until February, it was still raining and snowing, and even the water of the Yellow River outside Hangu Pass was still covered with a thin layer of ice on the river, and it had not yet completely melted from the frozen state.

The past winter was an extremely cold winter, and in the memory of many people, it seems that there has never been such a degree of cold. Coupled with the floods in autumn, the northern land, as far as Yanyun River and Hebei to Sili Guanzhong, seems to have suffered a dark year, in which there are natural disasters and man-made disasters.

Even in the weather of rain and snow, Hanguguan is still facing a grim situation. The soldiers have been holding on to the city for half a month, not freezing to death in the icy rain and snow, all thanks to the abundant black stone mines in Bingzhou, in the era of rich black stone, Hangu Pass as an important pass for trade with Xiliang, so there is a huge amount of black stone.

Nowadays, the production of black stone has been greatly reduced due to the war, and its value is said to have skyrocketed more than tenfold. But none of the soldiers and generals at the head of the city would feel sorry for the consumption of a large amount of black stones, because at the juncture of rain and snow and biting cold winds, if they did not burn a large number of black stones for warmth, how could they resist such a biting cold with only the cotton and linen clothes on their bodies? It is far more shameful to die in the bitter rain and snow than to die under the sword and gun of the enemy.

Under the city of Hangu Pass, it was Ma Chao's Xiliang army.

Since Ma Chao was defeated by Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, he has been preparing for revenge with his troops, but it happened that Lu Bu was the king, and the strategist Liu Ye made suggestions, thinking that Lu Bu called the king a great rebellion, and it would be discussed by the people of the world, and the civil strife in the state was newly removed, and there was a sign of national strength, which was a good time to raise troops to fight and recover Luoyang. Ma Chao had already recovered Henan, enterprising the heart of the Central Plains, so he happily followed, as soon as the year passed, he hurriedly gathered 50,000 troops, out of Tongguan straight to Hangu Pass.

The name of the Hangu guard is Deng Ai, who is only a teenager now, from a family of the world, and his brother Deng Li is one of the youngest strategists around Lu Bu. Deng Ai belonged to the Hongnong guard general Wei Xu, only because of his combat courage and wisdom, so he was very appreciated by Wei Xu and was appointed as the general of Hangu Pass. Although he only commanded 2,000 people, he was also a serious general who stood alone, and he was a rare young hero.

Counting today, Deng Ai has blocked 50,000 Xiliang soldiers under Hangu Pass for 15 days. The original number of 2,000 defenders of the city, after half a month of bloody battles, there are only more than 300 people left, but the Xiliang army under the city seems to be tireless, attacking day and night in turn, regardless of the fact that nearly 10,000 people have died under the tall and dangerous Hangu Pass.

Under the Hangu Pass, a thick layer of corpses filled the entire river in front of the pass, the red-red blood and white ice and snow condensed into a thick glacier in the river, red and white, crystal like jade, it looked like a huge bright amber, looking down in the city, there was a miserable beauty.

Not far from Hangu Pass, there was a stream of smoke in the neat tents of tens of thousands of troops, and on the muddy road, an army of more than 10,000 people was gathering momentum, and it looked like another round of fierce and tragic battles was about to begin. The snowflakes that fell on the faces of countless young people turned into snow water one by one, sticking to their faces that had not been washed for many days, covered with blood and dirt, revealing some of their original white complexion.

And just above the city, Deng Ai was standing on top of the tower himself, looking at the Xiliang soldiers who were about to launch another wave of attacks, his face full of worry.

"Does Hongnong have a reply?"

Deng Ai's voice was a little anxious, seeing that the soldiers under his command were getting fewer and fewer, more than 2,000 soldiers defending the city, there were only so many people left at the head of the city, not to mention the tens of thousands of Xiliang troops under the city, just the arrows, falling rocks and other strategic materials that had been exhausted in the day and night battle for many days were enough to put these three hundred people in a desperate situation, but Hongnong had never had any support for more than ten days, and if it continued like this, Hanguguan was only afraid that it would not last for a few days, and he and these three hundred brothers who lived and died together, I was afraid that they would also reach their final destination.

"Back to the general, the seventh wave of messengers who asked for help from Hongnong have been gone for two days, and they have not returned so far, and there is no news from Hongnong, general, have we been abandoned?" A general is equally young, and his face is indignant, which is enough to show the dissatisfaction in his heart at the moment.

"Don't talk nonsense, I have heard that General Wei was ordered to go to King Qin of Anyi, and it was the parade of King Jin, it is estimated that he has not returned to Hongnong at this time, I will hold on for a few more days, and reinforcements will come."

Deng Ai also beat a little drum in his heart when he said this, and he didn't know whether he was comforting the generals or comforting himself. It stands to reason that Hongnong is near the left side of Hangu Pass, and it is only half a day's journey to ride a fast horse, even if General Wei is not in the camp, but there is still the person in charge of the barracks, why did the Half Moon soldiers surround Hangu Pass, but Hongnong has always been silent, as if he does not know what happened here.

Mo said that Deng Ai had sent messengers to deliver messages seven times, and it was the momentum of this tiring battle, but I was afraid that the Hongnong defenders who were close at hand should have received the message a long time ago. Now that the consumption of materials for defending the city is approaching, there is not one soldier in ten, and Hangu Pass is in danger, but there is not the slightest movement on the Hongnong side, and even Deng Ai, who has always been calm, feels extremely abnormal.

"Could it be that something has changed?" Deng Ai couldn't help but secretly think about the worst.

"Woooooo

A piercing sound broke the previous calm.

"Be on guard, horse thieves are attacking the city!"

The rest of the people in the city were already numb to this sudden turn of events, and the instincts they had cultivated in the midst of many lives and deaths were familiar and mechanically hidden in the corners where they could live.

Deng Ai hid behind the city wall, looking at the countless boulders that crossed the air in the rain and snow, bringing out long tracks in the air, forming tail flames composed of rain and snow, whistling and screeching, smashing towards the city.

And not far from the city, more than a dozen catapults are gathering momentum, ready for another round of projectiles.

Deng Ai grinned and smiled bitterly at the nearest general: "The horse thief can be regarded as the more refined, and this stone throwing is getting more and more accurate." ”

The soldier had long adapted to such a situation, and pulled over a soldier who was unfortunately hit by a splash of flowing stones not far away and died, looked at the unrecognizable appearance of being smashed by the rocks, frowned and pressed his neck for a long time, and just shook his head and said: "Ah Cai is dead, and he can't live." ”

Deng Ai took the round shield in the hand of the dead Ah Cai, handed it to him and said, "Big head, you have to die later, otherwise I won't be able to carry these veteran oils alone." ”

The big head turned out to be a round shield, and what else to say, suddenly his face changed, and he rushed to Deng Ai in front of him, and there was a boulder with a large wellhead flying in, roaring with a strange trajectory, and the big head held a round shield and the boulder met unexpectedly.

"Bang! Boom! ”

There were two loud noises in succession, one was the loud sound of the boulder encountering the round shield and impacting. There was a sound of Deng Ai and Datou working together to resist the impact of the boulder being knocked into the battlements of the city wall.

Deng Ai spit out a mouthful of blood, looked at the big head with a face like gold paper and said, "How is it, can it still work?" ”

The big head and arms were hanging down and trembling faintly, but there was finally a trace of blood on his face: "Don't worry, you can't die." ”

The eldest head is much older than Deng Ai, and he is one of the soldiers who followed Lu Bu in the early days, and like many ordinary soldiers, he is inconspicuous, and he doesn't seem to have anything outstanding, but he has been in the army for many years, and he has survived several near-deaths, and it is already a great thing to be able to save himself.

Therefore, the status of the big head in this team is far from being as simple as a partial general, and even to some extent, it is more important than Deng Ai, a genuine general.

After a few rounds of stone-throwing suppression, it was still a familiar routine, and tens of thousands of Xiliang soldiers set up a cloud ladder, stepping on the corpses of their companions who had been piled up under the city, and once again launched a fierce attack towards the huge pass.

It's a pity that the sky is not beautiful, and the intertwined rain and snow have turned into flying goose feather snow at this time, and they have been sprinkled all over the mountains and fields in a moment.

Deng Ai's head was already covered with a layer of snow, and there were a few snowflakes hanging on his eyebrows, he looked at the Xiliang soldiers who were climbing like insects and ants under the city, and shouted with a grin: "Cheer me up, repel the horse thieves, and add a nest today." ”

Hundreds of people in the city applauded in unison, you must know that one nest is the ration of one meal, which is equivalent to eating two meals at once, such a good treatment, how can it not make everyone excited.

They seem to have forgotten that just half a month ago, such a dry and cold nest was never taken into their eyes, and every day was no meat and no joy, if it wasn't for the ban on alcohol in the army, it would have to be accompanied by two taels of wine.

"Shoot, shoot!"

With Deng Ai's order, hundreds of bows and arrows were fired at the head of the city, and countless soldiers who climbed Xiliang under the city were shot down.

The pass is not better than the city, only one wall is built in the valley on both sides, the terrain is narrow, and it is not conducive to the deployment of the army, if you want to capture the pass, there is only a way to attack head-on, there is no other way.

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