Tongguan

Gan Ning looked at Yuan Jun, who was preparing to attack under the pass, and asked Tai Shici beside him: "Ziyi, are the people below who caused you to suffer?" ”

"Xingba, don't be careless." Tai Shi Ci reminded when he heard this.

"Ziyi, don't worry, I'm not careless, I'm just a little puzzled, why didn't you send these people into battle when Yuan Shao was there before?"

"Who knows how to go." Tai Shi Ci shrugged and replied.

"Ziyi, you go down to rest first, now that the lord is not here, this Tongguan will depend on you and me to defend it, and when I can't hold it, you will come to answer me."

"Okay, then be careful yourself." Tai Shici was not pretentious, and he went down to the city without telling Gan Ning, and he didn't go far, and took the 3,000 people under his command to rest on the side of the pass, and supported Gan Ning at any time.

Tai Shici and Gan Ning are now both injured and sick, but if they want to hold Tongguan, they must have a general in charge. Since following Liu Xie, the two can be said to have experienced a lot of wars, and their experience is not comparable to that of those fledgling recruits. With the two of them in charge, Tongguan can be held more certainly.

"Behind us is Guanzhong, our parents, wives and children, brothers and sisters are behind us, once we can't hold Guanzhong and let Yuan Jun enter Guanzhong, our relatives will be bullied by Yuan Jun......" Gan Ning's unique broken gong voice sounded in his ears, Tai Shici couldn't help but shake his head and smile. He really admires this Gan Ning, who was injured more seriously than himself before, although after this period of recuperation, the injury has recovered well, but it is still heavier than himself, who was only hit by two arrows, but his spirit is more than himself.

Tai Shici knew that during this period of time, Gan Ning was not lightly suffocated, because the injury had not healed, Liu Xie asked Gan Ning, who was unwilling to return to Chang and recuperate, to act as his personal guard and protect his own safety. But Gan Ning watched his colleagues fight happily, while he could only watch from the sidelines, he received Liu Xie's kindness, but this did not mean that he was willing in his heart.

Now that he finally encountered the opportunity to do it himself, Gan Ning was not so much worried that Tongguan would be broken, but that he was still looking forward to Yuan Jun's performance not to disappoint him.

O militants!

……

"Birch, you take the lead." While Gan Ning and Tai Shici were actively preparing for defense, Yuan Jun under the gate was also making final preparations before the attack, and Yan Liang ordered Guo Huaidao, the young general next to him.

Guo Huai was originally a native of Yangqu, Taiyuan, and after Yuan Shao led the Jizhou pastor, Guo Huai joined Yuan Shao's account, but Guo Huai was unknown at this time, so he naturally couldn't get into Yuan Shao's eyes, and only became a centurion in the army. Later, by chance, Guo Huai was appreciated by Liyi, who had not yet aroused Yuan Shao's suspicion and was very relied on, so Guo Huai was also reused and served as Liyi's deputy general.

Ko Yi attaches great importance to Guo Huai, and teaches him what he has learned in his life, including the training method of the death camp first. After Yuan Shao killed Lu Yi, he originally wanted to remove Guo Huai together, so as not to leave future troubles. Fortunately, Yan Liangwen, a friend of Liyi before his death, came out to intercede with Yuan Shao and tried his best to protect Guo Huai, so that Yuan Shao did not feel sorry for Guo Huai anymore. Gan Ning wondered why Yuan Shao didn't use this strong team in his previous attack on Tongguan, but in fact, Yan Liangwen didn't want to cause Yuan Shao's murderous intent because of Guo Huai's outstanding performance.

Yuan Shao was wide on the outside and jealous on the inside, and the murder of Koi Yi was not so much arrogant as it was a high merit and a shock to the master, which made Yuan Shao worry that Koi Yi would rebel against him. At that time, Hebei Shuangxiong, Gongsun Chan was already a grasshopper after the autumn, and he jumped his head in a few days, and Lu Yi was very prestigious in the army because of his victory over and loss with Gongsun Zhan, and he also had a close relationship with Yuan Jun's generals, especially with Yuan Shao's confidant Yan Liangwen Chou, who was like a brother, which was easy to cause the cautious lord to worry. Koji Yi died unjustly, and instead of dying on the battlefield, he died at the hands of the lord he was loyal to.

But now that Yuan Shao is not in Tongguan, Yan Liang doesn't have this worry. This time, thanks to Guo Huai's alertness, this gave him a chance to regain some face. In Hebei, Yan Liang can be said to be invincible, but since leaving Hebei, Yan Liang has not done well, first in Qingzhou to lose troops and generals, and then in the battle with the imperial court, there is no achievement. It's useless to draw, the victory Yan Liang needs, not a draw, and I don't know where the Son of Heaven Liu Xie found those fierce generals, some of whom he has never even heard of.

The battle to attack Tongguan was fierce, even more than when Yuan Shao was in charge, but Tongguan made advance preparations for Guo Huai's first battalion due to Tai Shici's prior warning. And Guo Huai is not Koji Yi after all, and he can't fully exert all the combat power of the first camp. However, it was precisely because of the outstanding performance of the first camp that Yan Liang saw the hope of breaking through.

Tongguan had no reserves at this time, and in order to solve the first battalion in Guo Huai's hands, Tai Shici, as a reserve, had already gone to the city and fought side by side with Gan Ning. The two defended desperately, buying time for the main force of the Han army to come back to help. However, manpower was sometimes exhausted, and in the face of the offensive of Yuan's army, regardless of casualties, Tongguan was in danger.

Yan Liang and Wen Chou were determined to take Tongguan this time, and the 100,000 horses under their command were all under the command of Yan Liang, except for 20,000 cavalry who were taken away by Wen Chou to be responsible for the safety of the back road. Yan Liang accepted Guo Huai's suggestion, divided the 80,000 people into several teams, and constantly launched an offensive against Tongguan, one team ran out and the other team followed, in short, it did not give the Tongguan defenders any time to rest and breathe.

"Ziyi, it looks like we're about to lose our time." Gan Ning slashed a Yuan Jun general to death with a knife, turned his head and shouted at Tai Shici.

"If the husband dies, he will die, if you want to go, I won't leave anyway." Tai Shici kicked the opponent off the city with one kick, and replied without looking back.

"Hey~ Ziyi, Hugh wants to underestimate people, when did I say I was leaving?" Gan Ning laughed, dodged the gunman who attacked him, and slit the throat of the sneak attacker with a swipe of the knife in his hand.

"That's my misunderstanding, Xingba is not strange." Tai Shi Ci replied loudly.

……

The battle lasted from early morning to evening, during which the defenders of Tongguan did not get a moment of rest, that is, they ate to replenish their strength, and they also took advantage of the fact that Yuan Jun had not yet climbed to the top of the city, and stuffed them into their mouths in three or two, chewing while desperately following the Yuan army who rushed to the city. This kind of high-intensity battle caused the defenders of Tongguan to suffer considerable losses, but for most of the day, only three or four thousand of the original 10,000 defenders remained, and each of them was wounded.

"Ziyi, it seems that Yuan Jun really doesn't plan to give us time to take a breath." Gan Ning took the time to take a look at Yuan Jun who was closed, and found that Yuan Jun was arranging lantern torches, and the posture was obviously preparing to fight at night.

"If you don't give it, you won't give it, at most you will die in battle."

"I don't know when the lord's reinforcements will arrive?" Gan Ning muttered casually, not wanting to feel a pain in his shoulder as soon as the words fell, so he saw Tai Shici pointing to the distance and asking, "Xingba, come and see, is there dust and smoke there?" ”

Looking in the direction of Tai Shici's finger, Gan Ning couldn't really see it when he squinted, and couldn't help patting his thigh depressedly, but when he touched something, Gan Ning suddenly woke up, and hurriedly took the clairvoyance hanging on his waist, and raised his eyes to look into the distance. Tai Shici on the side also slapped his forehead when he saw this, forgetting that he also had this thing.

When they saw clearly the battle flags of the two sides that were fighting in the distance, Gan Ning and Tai Shici glanced at each other and were ecstatic in their hearts. The cavalry of Yuan and Liu were fighting, and one of the cavalry with the banner of Pang Zi was rapidly approaching Tongguan. Although I can't see the appearance of the person who came, I can see the dress, it is my own people.

"Reinforcements have arrived, everyone work harder!" Tai Shici shouted loudly, and Gan Ning on the side also echoed loudly, "I drank a river of water, but I can't choke to death with this last mouthful." ”

The morale of the Tongguan garrison was greatly boosted, and the Yuan army under the pass also seemed to realize that something was wrong. Yan Liang looked at Tongguan hatefully, he fell short, he didn't expect the reinforcements from the imperial court to come back so quickly.

"The front team of the army changed to the rear team, retreat slowly, don't panic." Although he was unwilling, Yan Liang still gave the order to retreat in time.

As Yuan Jun's golden sound sounded, Tai Shici and Gan Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief, and they didn't care about any face, like many people, the two of them sat on the ground with their butts, panting for breath. However, after just a few breaths, the two of them stood up against the wall and monitored the movements of Yuan Jun together.

The Yuan army was retreating, and Gan Ning and Tai Shici could only watch, not because they didn't want to pursue, but because they were powerless. The outside of the city was handed over to the friendly army, and Gan Ning and Tai Shici just wanted to find a place to sleep well at this time.

Pang De took the lead with a tiger roaring knife in his hand, and led the soldiers and horses of his headquarters to rush straight to Yan Liang's team. More than half of the men and horses led by Pang De were old subordinates who followed Pang De in the early years, and there was nothing to say about their riding skills, so they followed closely behind Pang De and crashed into Yuan Jun's brigade.

Yan Liang's subordinates were mostly infantry, although they got Yan Liang's orders and formed a formation to defend, but in the face of the undulating impact of the elite cavalry of the Han army, they still did not hold on in the end, and were scattered by the cavalry, becoming a rout that fled in all directions. And Pang De doesn't look rude on the outside, but he is very good at seizing the opportunity to see the Yuan army scattered, when he even leads his cavalry to gather and drive away the scattered defeated soldiers of the Yuan army, as the vanguard of the Yuan army.

In order to ensure that the soldiers and horses of the headquarters were not scattered by the rout, Yan Liang had to order the arrows to be released, but the defeated soldiers of the Yuan army were like snowballs, even if the people running in front saw that the situation was not good and wanted to change the route, they were pushed and pushed forward by the people behind them. Yan Liang could only watch his own soldiers and horses rush to the ground.

"Yan Liang, take your life!" There was a loud shout in his ears, and Yan Liang couldn't help but smile bitterly. It's not the first time I've fought with Pound, Yan Liang naturally knows how powerful Pound is over, if this is a fight, it won't end without two or three hundred rounds. And now is really not the time to show personal martial bravery, since Pang De and Zhao Yun have arrived, I believe that Ma Chao and Dian Wei's people will arrive soon, and if they continue to stay here, maybe they will never want to leave.

Thinking of this, Yan Liang shook his knife and left, ignoring the scolding of Pang De behind him. As soon as Yan Liang left, the morale of the Yuan army was suddenly extremely low, and they abandoned their weapons and surrendered to the Han army. Two legs can't run on four legs, the Han army is cavalry, even if you can run, you can't outrun the cavalry, it's better to surrender now, and save yourself from suffering.

With Yan Liang escaping, Wen Chou's side also had a result, Wen Chou, who was fighting with Zhao Yun, saw that it was impossible to disobey the situation, so he had to think about retreating early, and asked Zhao Yun to shoot off the helmet and flee in the wilderness, and Wen Chou fled, and the cavalry of the Yuan army, who was originally fighting fiercely with the Han army, suddenly lost their backbone and fled with the defeat of the main general. Zhao Yun was worried about Pang De's side, so he didn't chase after him, but just sent someone to inform Ma Chao and Dian Wei, who were rushing behind him, to meet Wen Chou's defeated soldiers, so he took his own men and horses to join the purge of Yuan's foot soldiers.

The main general of the Yuan army ran away, and most of the foot soldiers also surrendered with knowledge of current affairs, but only one person was still insisting on resisting, and this person was Guo Huai. However, Guo Huai at this time is no longer the original Guo Huai, and the attack on Tongguan has caused heavy casualties in the first camp, and the soldiers and horses led by Guo Huai at this time are just ordinary soldiers.

The resistance of hundreds of people called the Han army to surround a mound, and the Han army did not rush to launch an offensive, but only trapped this Yuan army on the mound.

It's not that Zhao Yun and the others don't want to exterminate the remnants of the Yuan army, but Liu Xie instructed before the army set off that if he encounters the Yuan general who made Tai Shici suffer a big loss, try to capture him alive. It is precisely because of Liu Xie's words that Guo Huai has survived to the present. Otherwise, with the bravery of Zhao Yun and Pang De, it would not be the same as playing to eliminate hundreds of people.

There is no food and water on the mound, Guo Huai is desperate at this time, and the soldiers of the Yuan army who are trapped on the mound like him are also in danger, and they don't know where to go? Especially when I saw the soldiers and horses under the mound and began to bury the pot to cook, the uneasiness became even stronger.

It is impossible to break through, they are all foot soldiers, how can they outrun the cavalry? can surrender, and the main general Guo Huai has become the biggest obstacle. Guo Huai is not Yuan Shao's die-hard loyalist, and the reason why he has persisted until now is just doing his duty as Yuan Shao's general. Glancing at the uneasy subordinates, Guo Huai sighed and said to the left and right: "If you want to surrender, then go." ”

Guo Huai opened his mouth himself, Yuan Bing looked left and right, stalemate for a moment, and finally someone couldn't help but be the first person to eat crabs, first hugged his fist to Guo Huai, and then slowly went down the mountain, and seeing that someone started, the rest of the people also took action, always saluted Guo Huai first, and then slowly went down the mountain. When the people were almost gone, there were only a dozen survivors left around Guo Huai who had ascended to the camp first.

"Let's go, too." Guo Huai glanced at everyone and said.

"General, we have offended the Han army too much, even if we want to surrender, it is estimated that no one will agree, it is better to live and die with you."

While he was talking, those Yuan soldiers who had gone down the mountain to surrender to the Han army came back one by one with sad faces. Seeing this, Guo Huai asked in wonder, "What are you doing when you come back?" ”

"General, the Han army said that they want us to surrender with you, if you don't surrender, we don't want to surrender." Yuan Bing, who was the first to come down the mountain and surrender, said to Guo Huai with a sad face.

“…… When did I Guo Huai also get valued? Guo Huai smiled self-deprecatingly when he heard this, and did not say anything more. And the surrounding Yuan soldiers, you look at me, I look at you, I want to persuade Guo Huai to surrender to the Han army, but I was worried that it would annoy Guo Huai, so I simply shrank aside and stopped talking.

Nothing happened all night......

The hill where Guo Huai was located was surrounded by water, and it was impossible to escape, and Liu Xie also returned to Tongguan in the early morning. After a night of inquiry, Tai Shici already knew that the Yuan general who had suffered a loss was named Guo Huai, and the first camp was a relic of Lu Yi.

"Ziyi, how are the injuries?" Liu Xie asked Tai Shi Ci with concern.

"Don't worry, this injury is not a big deal." Tai Shi Ci replied when he heard this.

"It's fine. Ziyi, I intend to recruit that Guo Huai, I don't know what you think? ”

“…… Guo Huai can hurt me, but he can be regarded as a character, if the lord is interested in recruiting, he doesn't have to ask Ci's opinion.

"Ziyi, you're a bit boastful of what you're saying." Gan Ning on the side shouted with a smile.

"Shut up, Xingba, don't talk nonsense." Liu Xie glared at Gan Ning, and said to Tai Shici: "Ziyi, to tell you the truth, Guo Huai is talented, I do have the heart to recruit, but he has hurt you, if you don't want to be an official in the same dynasty with him, then I will let him go, you don't have to ignore Xingba's broken mouth, just tell me what you really think." You are my friend, and Guo Huai is just a general. ”

"Thank you for your kindness. The lord, he is not talented, and he is willing to go to the lord to say that Guo Huai. Tai Shi Ci was moved in his heart, martial artists are not literati, and there are not so many eyes. Liu Xie's words were straightforward, but he was even more temperamental to Tai Shici.

"Okay, then please Ziyi."

……

Tai Shici personally went up to the mound and met Guo Huai. In the face of Tai Shi Ci, Yuan Jun was very nervous, especially the soldiers who recognized Tai Shi Ci as the Han general who asked the first camp to defeat, and he was even more nervous.

"Guo Huai, the general Tai Shici, I came here today just to ask about you, now you have no reinforcements outside, no food and grass inside, are you willing to surrender?"

"You're here to persuade me to surrender?" Guo Huai asked with some surprise.

"Of course, what else would I do here?"

“…… Don't you blame me for beating you in the first place? ”

"You and I are at war, each is his master, the victory or defeat depends on his ability, you can defeat me, you can only say that I am not good at learning, what do I blame you for? Guo Huai, there is no such narrow-minded person around the lord, I believe you will understand this in the future. ”

After hearing this, Guo Huai found that everyone around him was looking at him, the situation at this time, the life and death of these people were in his own thoughts, and Guo Huai really didn't have much loyalty to Yuan Shao. The master Lu Yi, who killed himself as a teacher and friend, had long made Guo Huai dissatisfied with Yuan Shao, but out of the loyalty of the soldiers, Guo Huai did not fight back. But now, Guo Huai suddenly found that surrendering to the Han army was also a good choice, at least he didn't need to do things for the enemy with a clear conscience.

"I wonder what the Son of Heaven plans to do with us?" Guo Huai asked.

"The matter has not yet been decided, but according to the old practice, the lord will not embarrass the ordinary soldiers, and when the war is over, most of them should be released and return to Hebei to reunite with their families. As for you...... Would you like to come under me as a lieutenant? Tai Shici looked at Guo Huai and asked.