Tongguan, is the east gate of Guanzhong, has always been a place where soldiers must fight, ranking second among the top ten famous passes in China, known as the "first pass", this is because the Qianlong Emperor traveled here in later generations, the inscription "the first pass" caused.

As long as Tongguan can be captured, the east gate of Guanzhong will be opened, and Cao Ju's army can march all the way west, and it will be easy to reach the city of Chang'an, and Chang'an will be in danger.

On the morning of the seventh day after Hu Chi'er delivered the grain, the sky was just dark, and Hu Chi'er led the army back and came to Tongguan.

It's really a little wrong to come back at this point, after all, it's not something to rush back, why do you have to rush overnight.

The defenders on the gate only had such a thought, but when they saw that it was indeed Hu Chi'er himself who led the army back, they did not have any suspicion, and directly opened the gate.

It was too smooth, originally in Cao Ju's plan, the defenders on the gate would ask a few more words, and he also prepared a speech and handed it to Hu Chi'er, but he didn't expect that he didn't need a word.

Hu Chi'er sighed secretly, led 3,000 men and horses into Tongguan, and thought to himself, General Niu, the last general will not live with you, and please be considerate of the last general's desire to find his sister.

When the 3,000 men and horses had just entered the pass, with Cao Ren's shout of "do it", the 3,000 men and horses immediately moved, some of them reflexively went to the gate under the leadership of Dian Wei, and some of them attacked the gate under the leadership of Huang Zhong.

The change was too sudden, although there were many sergeants defending the city, but there was no general to lead it, and on Cao Ju's side, all the generals under his command were in the pass, and the situation was very unfavorable to the Xiliang army.

Cao Ju's army of 30,000 also appeared within the range of vision at the juncture, and rushed towards this side at an extremely fast speed.

Only Hu Chi'er didn't make a move, after all, Niu Fu treated him well, he betrayed Niu Fu and deceived the pass, if he killed the sergeants under his command again, Hu Chi'er couldn't get over it with his conscience, after all, he had also lived with these sergeants for a few years.

The combat effectiveness of the Xiliang army was not bad, but, under the leadership of Dian Wei, Huang Zhong and other generals, they could only retreat one after another, the gate was opened again, and Cao Ju also led the army to rush into the pass, and the ratio of the two sides suddenly became 1:3.

When Niu Fu learned the news and hurried over, Cao Ju had already led the army into the pass, and the general trend had gone, Niu Fu did not dare to fight, and retreated while fighting, preparing to withdraw from the West Gate and return to Chang'an.

However, how could Cao Ju let Niu Fu leave, he had already ordered Huang Zhong and Huang Xu's father and son to stare at Niu Fu to death, and he must not let him leave, so Niu Fu retreated very slowly.

Finally, when he was about to reach the West Gate, Huang Zhong shot Niu Fu in the left shoulder with an arrow, shot him off his horse, and captured Niu Fu alive.

With Niu Fu being captured alive, the battle of Tongguan was over, but some of the defenders of the West Gate saw that the situation was not good and fled in the direction of Chang'an.

Although Cao Ju also sent troops to chase after him, he did not chase them all, and hundreds of people still fled to Chang'an from time to time.

Now that the news had been leaked, Cao Ju was no longer in a hurry and rushed to Chang'an immediately, ordering the army to repair at Tongguan, treat the wounded, and reorganize the prisoners.

Hu Chi'er has a lot of prestige in the Niu Auxiliary Army, and Cao Ju didn't kill Niu Fu, but just locked him up, eating and drinking, these Xiliang Army are still very grateful to Cao Ju.

However, Cao Ju's mood was not very happy, Niu Fu's prestige in the army was too high, if he didn't surrender, these nine thousand sergeants would not surrender. However, Niu Fu is Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, and he will definitely not surrender, and the nine thousand Xiliang army will become a piece of chicken ribs, not to mention that Cao Ju promised Hu Chi'er not to kill Niu Fu.

Xi Zhong smiled and asked, "The lord is worried about the nine thousand Xiliang troops?"

Cao Ju nodded, didn't say anything, Xi Zhong is a ghost, a person similar to Guo Jia, many things don't need to be the lord's mouth, he can know what the lord is worried about.

Xi Zhong said with a smile: "Lord, this matter is not difficult, Zhong has a plan, not only can he get rid of Niu Fu, but also can not lose the heart of General Hu, and he can also let the lord get the allegiance of the nine thousand Xiliang Army."

Cao Ju immediately laughed when he heard this, and asked, "What is Zhicai's clever plan, let's talk about it quickly."

Xi Zhong smiled slightly, and whispered in Cao Ju's ear for a while, Cao Ju immediately laughed again: "Wonderful, talented and talented, lonely and talented, why worry about the uncertain world."

Xi Zhong also bowed to Cao Jushen and said: "Zhong will do his best to assist the lord, calm the world, end the troubled times, and save the people of Li from fire and water."

In history, although he was talented, he had a very short lifespan and died young, which made Cao Cao regretful, but fortunately, Xun Yu recommended Guo Jia, otherwise, Cao Cao's development path would not be known.

However, now Xi Zhong has met Cao Ju, Cao Ju is the successor of "Taiping Yaoshu", his medical skills are high, and he is not under Hua Tuo at that time, he has cured Xi Zhong's illness and taught him the method of internal cultivation, so there is no possibility of Xi Zhong dying of illness.

After getting Xizhong's offer, Cao Ju began to arrange, waiting for Niu Fu to take the bait, and then Cao Ju received Niu Fu's 9,000 soldiers and horses.

However, he said that Niu Fu lost Tongguan, and was captured alive and injured, and he was naturally extremely angry with Hu Chi'er in his heart, and he hated to kill him immediately.

Cao Ju guessed Niu Fu's thoughts, yes, after Niu Fu was captured, Hu Chi'er asked to see Niu Fu several times, but Cao Ju stopped him.

On this day, Cao Ju called Hu Chi'er and said to him: "General Chi'er, Niu Fu was hit by an arrow, and there was no big problem, but he was worried about the loss of Tongguan in his heart, and he was depressed all day long, which made the injury worse and was terminal."

Hu Chi'er was taken aback when she heard this, and hurriedly said: "Lord, how can this be, please ask the lord to agree, and the last general will go to visit General Niu Fu."

Cao Ju sighed: "A few days ago, I didn't let you visit, because I was worried that Niu Fu would ruin your life under anger, but now Niu Fu is about to die, and you have followed him, so you should go to visit, so Gu specially informed you."

"Thank you, lord, the last general is going to visit General Niu Fu." Hu Chi'er immediately thanked Cao Ju, bowed his hand to Cao Ju, and went out to visit Niu Fu.

Looking at Hu Chi'er's distant figure, Cao Ju sighed, and secretly thought, Hu Chi'er, Niu Fu, Hugh blames the lonely and ruthless, the so-called big things should be informal, and what is lonely is the hegemony of imperial power, and some extraordinary measures must be taken at the appropriate time.

After Hu Chi'er left, Xi Zhong walked out from behind the screen and said with a smile: "Lord, the first step has been completed, and then the lord can carry out the second step plan."

Cao Ju smiled and said, "Exactly, go, Zhicai, go with Gu to visit General Niu Fu."