(2-in-1)

The west gate of Huguan was not difficult to attack in the eyes of the Shence army. Although there is a small road outside the city gate, the terrain is cramped and narrow, which is not conducive to siege operations. But in fact, after Gongsun Lan and Li Xin'er burned the seven or eight arrow towers above the city gate into torches, the defense of the city gate was immediately weakened by half.

Moreover, in fact, the defensive pattern of Huguan is also destined to make the defenders not care too much about the gains and losses of the pass gate. In some cases, they even hope that the enemy will break down the door, so that they will rush into the narrow passage of the pass to be slaughtered. Because of this, for most of the past half an hour, the besieging Shence army guards were feigning to attack the city, and they shot arrows at the head of the city from a distance on the narrow mountain road outside the city gate, creating a posture of large-scale attack. In fact, the defenders at the head of the city didn't care at all, they actually pretended to defend, and only shot arrows sporadically at the mountain road, creating the illusion that the defense of the city head was weak.

Both sides feinted and defended, and they were both acting for each other. However, after Wang Yuan's three red signals were shot into the sky, the tacit understanding between the two sides was immediately broken. The defenders of the city knew that the gate on the middle wall was lost, so they naturally refused to let the enemy break through the gate. And the soldiers and horses of the besieging Shence army knew that the passage inside had been opened, and it was time to break into the door directly. The two sides quickly changed from lazy feints to real offensive and defensive battles.

"Punch forward and prepare!"

Under Zhao Qing's loud shouting order, dozens of Shence Army soldiers with ropes around their necks carried a huge log from the rear to the mountain road below the gate. In such a terrain, the only way to break through the pass is to use this kind of earthen, because there is no siege equipment at all, and even if there are siege equipment, it cannot be used on this mountain road, but it is effective to manually carry a huge rough log as a hammer to hit the door.

"Shield Bridge ready!"

Zhao Qing ordered again in a loud voice. Three thousand guards unloaded the black iron shield from behind their backs. These black iron shields were also captured by the rebels after the Battle of Tongzhou. When dealing with the spoils of war, some generals disliked the fact that these large iron shields were too heavy and impractical, and that they were very valuable, and suggested that they be returned to the furnace to forge knives and guns. Wang Yuan would not allow them to do this, and he directly ordered thousands of captured iron shields to be included in the armory of the guard battalion. Because in the battle of Tongzhou, Gao Xiuyan's strategy of building a march channel with an iron shield really amazed Wang Yuan, although it was broken by Wang Yuan's dense shooting with a crossbow, but it has to be said that Gao Xiuyan's siege method is both creative and miraculous. It's just that I found a way to restrain myself in a hurry.

Wang Yuan ordered people to save these thousands of iron shields like treasures, and he believed that sooner or later they would come in handy. And this time, he led the elite 3,000 cavalry to raid behind enemy lines, and the armor and weapons on the selected 3,000 cavalry, and the war horses they rode were all the best equipment. Before leaving, Wang Yuan still ordered the soldiers to carry these heavy iron shields. Although some people questioned that carrying these heavy shields would go against the idea of light cavalry and would burden the horses and soldiers, Wang Yuan believed that these things would always come in handy, so he still decided to bring these shields.

Yesterday, when Wang Yuan probed the pattern of Huguan, Wang Yuan immediately knew that these iron shields would be of great use here. Therefore, Zhao Qing and Tan Ping had already been given the strategy of attacking the city, and these shields were the core equipment for breaking through the pass.

Led by the rushing car, a shield formation formed behind the surrounding area, and a giant python covered with black scales instantly appeared on the narrow mountain road. Up and down, left and right, the front and back things are all blocked by iron shields. Under the stunned gaze of the thousands of defenders at the head of the pass city, the black python slowly swam clumsily from the slope of the mountain road towards the city gate.

"What are you doing? Shoot the arrows! Shoot the arrows! Chen Zhi, the general guarding the pass, shouted loudly.

The defenders reacted and immediately began to draw their bows and shoot arrows. The terrain in front of the Huguan City Gate is narrow. It's cramped, and it's a small steep slope. This is a nightmare for the besiegers, but an excellent defensive position for the soldiers defending the city. By concentrating all the arrows in a small area within a radius of less than fifty paces, the besieging soldiers and horses would have no other way but to hold their heads and run away.

However, all this did not apply to the group of soldiers and horses besieging the city in front of them. Dense arrows covered the whole body of the black python, but listening to the sound of clanging beans, countless feathered arrows hit those black scale armor, but they jumped and tossed, flying out horizontally, without damaging the giant python at all.

For a mountain pass like Huguan, the siege heavy equipment cannot be used here, and the soldiers and horses guarding the pass will naturally not be equipped with any heavy wives and concubines. The only heavy weapon in the entire Huguan is just three bed crossbows. But even the hard arrows of these bed crossbows couldn't shake the iron-armored python under the city at all.

In the rain of locusts flying in the sky, the soldiers defending the city could only watch weakly as the giant python slowly swam under the city gate. Soon after, the terrifying sound of 'bang bang bang' resounded in the night sky. It was the sound of a huge log crashing against the gates. With each impact, the city gate almost trembled up and down, and the hearts of the defenders at the head of the city also seemed to be hit hard.

The defender Chen Zhi is not a straw bag, and when he was attacked tonight, he made the most correct decision, he asked most of the soldiers and horses to quickly concentrate above the city gate and on the two middle walls, and quickly blocked the entrance to the city gate on the middle wall. He thought that everything had been done perfectly, but what he did not expect was that a small group of enemy troops that had infiltrated the city would be so fierce, and the enemy troops besieging the city had used such extraordinary methods, and it was obvious that they had come prepared.

In this situation, Chen Zhi understood that the city gate could not be guarded, because sooner or later, the rushing car would break through the pass gate. Now the only chance to turn the tide is to abandon the city gate and retreat to the center wall. Even if the enemy breached the city gates, they would still have to pass through the corridors between the high walls. There are a lot of rolling wood and stones on the high walls on both sides, which may be more useful than bows and arrows, and can kill and injure enemy troops more.

So Chen Zhi immediately ordered, and more than 1,000 defenders began to evacuate the city wall above the city gate, and quickly took position on the high walls on both sides. But listening to the sound of bang

In the eyes of the defenders on the high walls on both sides, inside the city gate hole, the huge black python began to slowly swim towards the corridor. They knew that the high walls on both sides were full of enemy troops, but they did not pay any attention to the enemy troops. With an iron shield covering the top and sides of the head, the python calmly swam in through the hole in the city gate, moving slowly and neatly towards the front.

"Kill!" Chen Zhi yelled, and his voice changed tone. He had been enraged by the arrogance and disdain shown by the besiegers, and he had never seen anyone so brazenly besiege a city in the eyes of the defenders. He felt that this was the greatest scorn and insult he had ever suffered in his life.

Knowing that the bow and arrow attack was ineffective, there were still arrows raining down on the high walls on both sides. Along with these dense rains of arrows, countless rolling stones and wood fell. The focus of Huguan's defense is precisely on the two high walls in the middle, so a large number of defensive materials are also piled up here. There are also many large and small stone houses built on the two walls in the middle, which can be used as bunkers on the high walls, and more importantly, for the purpose of stacking and storing various materials. Even a large amount of food in the pass was hoarded in these small stone houses.

To some extent, as long as the high wall in the middle is not lost, the pot gate is not considered to have fallen. Because with the arrow tower on the high wall and the defense system, plus the hoarded materials and grain and grass, it can hold on for many days. This is also the reason why the houses in the devolved passes are empty, because most of the important supplies are actually stored in these high-walled stone huts. This is also the confidence of Chen Zhi to insist on defense, he believes that as long as the enemy army is blocked and killed in the Yongdao, the Huguan will still be in his hands. And the handful of troublemakers in the rear, once they have their hands free, they can be strangled.

However, Chen Zhi finally missed a section. The core defense of the high-walled corridor is not rolling wood, but arrow towers and condescending bows and arrows on both sides. In the passage several feet wide, the rolling wood and stone do not have much of a lethal effect, and the most powerful thing is when the enemy attacks the wall and stands below the wall. However, the opponent clearly expected the ferocity of the rolling wood, and the giant python became extremely slender after entering the corridor, forming a queue of three or five people side by side in the middle of the corridor, and moving quickly under the shield wrapping.

Their queue was a distance of two feet from the walls on both sides, and the only distance they could expect was the splattering of the boulders falling from the two-foot high walls, and the fact that the logs could roll into the enemy formation from the base of the wall and hit the enemy formation.

In fact, the boulder burst in all directions after landing, and the bouncing and crushing after the rolling log landed did have a certain effect. The formation of the Shence Army in the corridor was indeed chaotic for a while, and dozens of people were indeed shot and killed when the shield array was loosened. But it was clear that this lethality was not enough to stop them from advancing. With the continuous influx of follow-up soldiers and horses, the soldiers of the Shence Army marched proudly in the torrential rain composed of arrows and rolling wood and stones with shields, and soon the vanguard soldiers and horses approached the gate of the middle wall that had been opened.

Chen Zhi was helpless when another piece of news broke down. There was confusion on the east side of the high wall, and some soldiers came to report that the small number of enemy troops who had occupied the high wall had begun to charge in the direction of the city gate, and that the two arrow towers not far to the east had been occupied by them, and they were now condescendingly shooting arrows at the defenders at the head of the city.

Chen Zhi scolded while rushing to the east to take a look, and saw that the two arrow towers dozens of steps away had indeed been taken down, and the arrows on them were shooting towards the city like rain. The arrows forced the soldiers to huddle in the corners of the stone houses, and did not dare to throw stones and logs at the enemy troops passing in the tunnel. Chen Zhi got a little closer, and was almost shot by a rain of arrows on the arrow tower, and was busy hiding in the corner of the stone house.

"General Chen, the last general thinks, let's give up this pass, we can't hold it here at all, while they don't completely occupy the pass, while the east city gate is still in our hands, general, let's quickly abandon the pass." Several lieutenants persuaded him.

Chen Zhi felt haggard. Originally, he had great confidence in holding the Huguan, but the situation in front of him had taken a turn for the worse, and he knew that he was powerless. It was only a matter of time before Huguan fell, and the enemy forces attacking in the corridor were already unstoppable, and the enemy soldiers and horses in the vanguard had begun to pour into the northern half of the pass from the passage. Soon they rushed up the stone steps up the high wall, and if they didn't walk at this point, they really couldn't get out.

However, if you just leave like this, it will also make people unwilling. Chen Zhi finally had the opportunity to become a deputy general and was able to garrison Huguan. When the pot is lost, the future is ruined.

"Pass the order, General Chen, and we'll do our best. It's not that we are not loyal to the Great Yan Kingdom, but the enemy army is too fierce. Our brothers can't afford to give their lives for the Great Yan Kingdom, do they? Several lieutenants said one after another.

Chen Zhi glared angrily and said, "You guys, what are you talking about?" If you eat the king's fortune, you should be loyal to the king......"

A lieutenant frowned and said, "Come on, General Chen, why bother talking this nonsense." What our brothers said was the truth, let's follow An Lushan to raise troops, but we said that Qingjun was on the side. Now Yang Guozhong has long since died, but An Dashuai has become the emperor himself, which is a bit unauthentic. But we little soldiers didn't say anything, anyway, just eat a mouthful. But now if we want to die for him, that can't be done. General Chen, if you don't leave, the brothers will be out of company. ”

The rest of the people chimed in. Chen Zhi frowned for a moment, then sighed and said, "That's it, pass the order, immediately withdraw to Nanguan, and evacuate immediately." ”

When the sky was clear, the battle of Huguan was finally over. The Huguan defenders gave up resistance so quickly, which made Wang Yuan a little surprised. He thought that the defenders would have to resist desperately to live up to the name of the elite border army, but this was not the case.

Zhao Qing and Tan Ping led the cavalry to chase and kill, but they gained little. The fleeing enemy soldiers knew that it would be difficult to escape the pursuit of the cavalry, so they chose to hide in the mountains and forests, and the cavalry was powerless against them. However, for Wang Yuan, this also achieved his own goal, Wang Yuan did not want these deserters to spread the news that his soldiers and horses appeared in the hinterland of the rebels after escaping from Taihang Mountain. Forced them into the mountains, they couldn't get the word out. When these deserters went out of the mountain, they were afraid that they had already left Taihang Mountain.

At that moment, the soldiers and horses immediately rested on the spot in the pass. After a night of fighting, the soldiers and horses were very tired, and many brothers were killed and wounded. The wounded needed immediate treatment, and more than 100 people who died in battle were buried on the spot. Wang Yuan was actually not in a good mood, because the battle against Huguan this time was a little too cautious, so that it caused a lot of casualties, and even Li Xin'er and Qingyun'er Ziyun'er were injured, which made Wang Yuan blame. But fortunately, the injuries of the three girls are not critical, they are all sword injuries, and their lives are not hindered. But Wang Yuan still warned himself that he must be more cautious and cautious in the future. Such an action is a risky move in itself, and if you are not careful, sooner or later something will go wrong.

In any case, after Huguan was taken, the only obstacle leading to the east exit of the official road in the Taihang Mountain Gorge had been cleared. There is no obstacle to the east of Huguan, and the soldiers and horses can go out of the mountains to the junction of Xiangzhou and Xingzhou in no more than two days, and then they can reach the plain city in two days, which is the destination of this trip. It can be said that the journey has been more than halfway through, and the most difficult stage has been passed.

……

Six hundred miles southwest of Huguan, in the city of Luoyang, the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom. After nightfall, there was a dead silence. It stands to reason that as the capital of a new dynasty, it should be vibrant and lively even at night, but the capital of this new dynasty is lifeless during the day, let alone at night.

The streets were pitch black, and occasionally the guards patrolling the city galloped by. In addition, only the old man who patrols the night carries a dusk lantern and walks slowly between the alleys. The sweltering summer night had a putrid smell in the air, perhaps because too many people had died in the city months ago, and it seemed that there was still some smell of dead bodies in the night wind.

All in all, this capital city is gloomy, not like the capital of the new dynasty of the Great Yan Kingdom, which has just been established for more than a month, but like the capital of the country that is about to die.

However, Luoyang City is not all lifeless, at least in the back hall of a tall mansion in the east city, it is a lively scene. In the flower hall of the back house, the giant candle is burning, and the hall is bright. Under the light, the silk and bamboo are pleasant, the singing is melancholy, the red dress is beautiful, and the clouds and temples are fragrant. The body shrouded in tulle is bewitching and flexible, and the delicate scolding spit out from the red lips is full of red wine and green. A scene of singing and dancing.

This is the Jin Palace, King An Qingxu of the Great Yan Kingdom. Every night, the back flower hall of the Jin King's Mansion was so lively, because An Qingxu, the king of Jin, was enjoying everything he thought he should enjoy.

Since An Lushan, the Xiongwu Emperor of the Great Yan Kingdom, ascended the throne, An Qingxu, who was named the King of Jin, has never left Luoyang for a single step. Although Yan Zhuang quietly told An Qingxu more than once that he should not stay in the capital to enjoy himself, but should lead the army to the battle, An Qingxu did not listen to Yan Zhuang's advice.

An Qingxu has his own plans, because he wants to be the prince, and the position of the prince must not be left behind. If he leaves the capital at this moment, wouldn't he want to give up the position of the crown prince? The other princes are close to the water and get the moon first, if the father who is confused by rhetoric gives the position of the crown prince to others, then he wants it