After a day of fierce fighting, Zheng's army lost more than 2,000 people and had to retreat; The next day, Zheng Jun used a rushing car and was smashed by a boulder prepared on the castle tower, and all the trees were burned. Guo Shiheng was familiar with the layout of the tiger prison, and transported soil to fill the trench in the shallow place of the moat, preparing to dig a tunnel to enter the pass, but he did not expect that the Hexi army dug a cross-cut trench in the city, and the Zheng army who rushed in was all killed by bows and arrows; Guo Shiheng had no choice but to set up a ladder to attack, and under the dense rain of arrows, he left thousands of corpses behind.

The Zheng army attacked day and night, for more than ten days, 7,000 Zheng troops were killed, and the Tiger Prison Pass was still in the hands of the Hexi army, Wang Shichong had no choice but to send Zhu Cang to lead 10,000 Zheng troops to help; However, in the face of the stubborn defense of the fortified city, the Zheng army fought for seven days and killed more than 4,000 people, but still did not stand in the tiger prison to pass the city.

In Xingyang, Li Jing sent Suo Yanshou to lead 8,000 cavalry as the vanguard, and the general 30,000 northern aids, Suo Yanshou first ambushed the Xia army's grain team on the outskirts of Bianzhou, beheaded 2,000 enemies, and captured the Xia army's general Zhang Qingte alive; Subsequently, Suo Yanshou annihilated 30,000 troops of Meng Haigong and Xu Yuanlang in Zhuxian Town, Meng Haigong was captured, and Xu Yuanlang led more than 1,000 people to escape. Shi Derui, the general of the Wei family, was originally a little hesitant, but he had no worries at the moment, and promised to transfer 10,000 troops to accompany Li Jing to the north.

The Xia army suffered successive defeats, and the people were panicked, up to Dong Kangmai, Liu Ya, and down to the soldiers, looting countless materials along the way, all wanting to temporarily retreat to Zhaozhou. Liu Bin proposed: "Our army can use the plan of besieging Wei to save Zhao, cross the river to the north, use the middle city of Heyang that is still in the hands of Zheng's army, attack Hanoi County, and then transfer Cao Zhan and Gao Yaxian's 100,000 troops to the south; If Xu Shiji still does not move in Xingyang, I will occupy Hanoi County and cross Taihang and drive into Changping County, disturb Pujin, threaten Hedong, abandon Henan and take the state. ”

Dou Jiande was overjoyed when he heard this, and ordered it to proceed according to the plan, informing Cao Zhan of Liyang, Gao Yaxian of Xingzhou, and Wang Shichong's envoy Changsun Anshi heard that there was a great hurry, so that Yang Chong would definitely defeat Luoyang and then fight a decisive battle with Dou Jiande; Fortunately, Wang Shichong prepared a large number of treasures in the palace, and the eldest grandson An Shi ran overnight, privately sending gold, silver and jewelry to Dong Kang and others, and promising a heavy reward. Dong Kangmai, Yin Qiu, and Shi Zan all advised Dou Jiande: "Liu Bin is just a scholar, how can you talk to him about war?" ”

Dou Jiande's wife, Cao, heard about it and came to Dou Jiande to suggest: "Why don't you take Liu Bin's opinion?" Along the road of Fukou, taking advantage of the emptiness of the Hexi Army, it was possible to seize the land in Shanbei by concentrating its forces, and then unite the Turkic forces to capture Taiyuan and outflank Guanzhong to the west, the Hexi Army would inevitably retreat, and the encirclement of Luoyang would naturally be lifted. Now that the troops are stranded outside Xingyang City, the time has dragged on for a long time, and I am afraid that the troops will be wasted and nothing will be accomplished. ”

Dou Jiande finally asked Liu Ya, Liu Ya pondered and said: "Zheng Guo's life is on the verge of waiting for us to rescue, if we run into difficulties and retreat, how to explain to the world; Besides, Song Jingang's tens of thousands of troops are in Hanoi County, and once we are pinned down and Luoyang is captured again, morale will definitely be hit. ”

Dou Jiande hesitated because of this, and finally adopted the strategy of Qi Shanxing, attacked one side of the other, and sent Yin Qiu and Shi Zan to lead 30,000 troops back to Chenliu to block Li Jing's army. Yin Qiu and Shi Zan followed Qi Shanxing's advice and did not compete with Li Jing on the periphery, but only guarded Junyi County, the county of Chenliu County, but Xia Jun never dreamed that Wang Yaohan dug a tunnel to the outside of the city in Junyi County in advance.

Li Jing made a feint outside the city for a day during the day, harassing the Xia army by all means, and at night sent Xiang Shanzhi to lead 2,000 elite soldiers, wearing the armor of the Xia army, to secretly enter the city through the tunnel, and the exit was in a secluded place next to the manger in the backyard of the county guard's mansion; Xiang Shanzhi and Li Keshi led people to find out the tunnel, killed the Xia soldiers near the manger, untied the two hundred horses in the manger, and set fire directly to the county guard's mansion.

Met Yin Qiu and Shi Zan drunk, and came out with more than 30 personal guards, some people recognized Yin Qiu and the two, Xiang Shanzhi and Li Keshi immediately waved their troops to cover up and kill, captured the two alive, and released fireworks. The county guard house was on fire, fireworks were released in the city, the Hexi army in the south began to attack the city, the soldiers of the Xia army were in chaos, Xiang Shanzhi took two hundred horsemen to embrace Yin Qiu and Shi Zan and went straight to the west gate to deceive the city gate; Li Keshi commanded the rest of the soldiers to divide into ten teams and set fire all over the city.

The soldiers of the Xia army heard in a hurry that the main general had fled from the west gate, and they all ran to the west gate in a panic, and sure enough, the city gate was wide open, and the crowd was crowded, so they squeezed out of the city lifelessly, and once they left the city, they lost their weapons and ran lifelessly; In the end, the guards at the east and north gates simply opened the city gates and fled directly. The 12,000 cavalry of the Hexi Army had already laid an ambush along the way, and when they saw this, they pursued and killed everywhere, and more than 6,000 of the 30,000 Xia troops were killed, and the number of people who were captured and surrendered was as high as 20,000.

Xu Yuanlang in Pingcheng was persuaded by Wang Bo to show the true colors of the chameleon again, and killed the Tang army Qizhou Assassin Li Gongyi defected, and the Tang army Henan Province comforted Xiahouduan could not resist, and the two thousand defeated troops fell off the cliff and drowned countless times, and there were many people who left the team along the way, and there were only more than 20 people left around them who fled to Songcheng County, all of them with sideburns falling out, and there was no human appearance.

The Banzhu battalion received Chen Liu's war report that the camp was full of wailing, and in a few days, the battle situation underwent earth-shaking changes, Li Jing's 40,000 troops were behind him, and the armies of Xu Shiji and Wang Yaohan together had surpassed the Xia army, and the Xia army's grain and grass were only enough for ten days, and the prospects were extremely bleak. Dou Jiande was also full of depression, but he still cheered up and asked, "How is the battle situation in the Tiger Prison?" ”

The eldest grandson An Shi said embarrassedly: "King Zheng sent Zhang Tongren to lead 10,000 troops to help, but the Hubu Battalion is one of the elites of the Hexi Army, and the equipment is abundant, but our army still failed to overcome the Tiger Pass. ”

The 40,000-strong army couldn't defeat a tiger prison, no wonder Yang Chong was so relieved to return to Chang'an with 50,000 heroes, Liu Ya suddenly asked, "What are the casualties of the Zheng army?" ”

The eldest grandson An Shi did not dare to conceal it, even if the details of the Xia army were not clear, the general situation was still known, and the eldest grandson An Shi said truthfully: "The number of casualties in our army has exceeded 10,000. ”

Dong Kang bought out the column and said to Dou Jiande: "King, this situation shows that the combat effectiveness of the Zheng army and the Hexi army is too different, even if the tiger prison is defeated, it will not help much in the battle situation in Xingyang. However, our army withdrew to Hebei and seized the crossings on both sides of the strait, at least four days of military rations were needed, so it was better to cross the Yellow River as soon as possible, and to stabilize the position, attack Hanoi County, and open a road to aid Luoyang from the north. ”

Dou Jiande understood that Dong Kang's words were a step, as for what to do, it still depended on the situation after crossing the Yellow River, Dou Jiande immediately clapped his hand and said: "According to what General Dong said, Liu Ya's army went first, occupied the ferry, mobilized boats to cross the river, set up a large village on the opposite bank, and notified Cao Zhan to come to respond. ”

(End of chapter)