At the beginning of November of the second year of Yinwen, the Shang State raised 150,000 troops to attack the Liang State, and collected 60,000 troops on a long voyage to confront the Shang State at Tiancang Pass.

"Shengshang, Jiangzhou is in an emergency, and the voyage is against the enemy at Tiancang Pass, and the minister asks the Shengshang to send troops to rescue." Situ Hao stood up from among the hundred officials and bowed to Zhang Xian in the hall.

Zhang Xian looked at Situ Hao, hesitated slightly, and said: "General Situ, our army is insufficient, if it is transferred to Jiangzhou, if the Qi State invades, what should we do?" ”

"Holy Lord, the Qi Kingdom has formed an alliance with us, and it will not change in the future. Even if there is a change, the building pass is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and with General Zuolong stationed, it can also meet the enemy. At present, the Shang State has 150,000 soldiers in Yanshun Mansion, while Jiangzhou only has 60,000 soldiers, and the caravan is constantly going to Yanshun Mansion. Situ Hao was not only worried about the voyage, but also worried that once Jiangzhou was broken, there would be no strong city to defend in the northwest of Daliang.

"Holy Lord, what General Situ said is very true." Zhan Hu also stood up, bowed down and said: "The Shang Kingdom has been preparing for war for many days, and it is well prepared, this southern invasion is bound to win, and war between the two countries is inevitable." The minister thought that he should send elite soldiers and strong generals to block the enemy in Jiangzhou, fight to the death with the Shang State, and protect my Liang. ”

Zhang Xian pondered, nodded, looked down at the ministers, and asked, "If you send troops to Jiangzhou, who can lead the troops there?" ”

Situ Hao asked for his life, and Zhengse said: "The minister is not talented, I am willing to lead the troops to Jiangzhou, please ask the saint to agree." ”

"Well, although I have a lot of generals in the Liang Kingdom, I still need Situ's palm seal to be safe." Emperor Yin Wen straightened his body and said: "Since all Aiqing have no objections, then make Situ Hao the marshal, send 100,000 troops, and order Jingzhou to send 50,000 troops to Jiangzhou to resist the enemy." ”

After Situ Hao received the order, he said: "Shengshang, Duanmu Long, the son of Duanmu Yiren of Jiangzhou Zhizhou, won the first place in the martial arts examination in the previous battle. This son is proficient in martial arts, and he is very good at kung fu immediately, and he has tried his best to ask for battle, and the minister recommends this person as a pioneer, please ask for the grace of the saint. ”

Zhang Xian suddenly remembered Duanmulong, nodded and said: "I remember, this son is indeed extraordinary, and the affairs in the army can be decided by Marshal Situ, and there is no need to play." ”

"Thank you." Situ Hao bowed and replied, taking this opportunity to bring Duanmu Long back to Jiangzhou, so that he could explain what the voyage had entrusted him.

In Tiancang Pass, Yuanhang stood on the city wall and watched ahead. The caravan soldiers pressed the border and had been calling for battle outside the gate for a morning.

"My lord, the last general will ask for battle." Gu Xin bowed down beside Yuanhang and said, he had been scolded by the enemy for a long time, and he couldn't suppress the fire for a long time, and it was the third time he asked for battle.

Yuanhang stared at the merchant army besieging the pass, shook his head and said, "Don't go to war." ”

"My lord......" Gu Xin's brows tightened, and he stopped talking.

Sun Ke pulled him and shook his head gently, although he also held back the anger in his heart and wanted to get out of the customs and kill him, but Sun Ke had been familiar with the voyage for a long time, and knew that it made sense for him not to fight.

Yuanhang pointed to the enemy troops in the distance and said, "All the generals have taken a closer look, those carts may be strong bows. ”

Although it was not clear from a distance, I saw several rows of cart-like items among the enemy troops, which were supposed to be used to fire bows and arrows. If it was really a strong bow, before our army could get close to the enemy army when they came out of the pass, the opponent fired rows of bows and arrows, and most of them had already fallen.

"If it were a strong bow, it would not be useful if we did not fight in the city. If we go out of the city, and the archers do not wait to get closer, and the other side begins to fire arrows, will we not suffer a great loss? Yuanhang shook his head again and again, and let the enemy soldiers shout and curse in unison, but he didn't turn on and off to meet the enemy.

The enemy army shouted and cursed for a morning, and when they saw that Liang Guo could not defend it, they gradually became a little impatient.

The first white horse, immediately sitting a general, about thirty years old, Chinese face, a pair of thick eyebrows obliquely into the forehead, two ears surprisingly big, but the eyes are small and pitiful, holding a goose feather knife, is engrossed in looking at the close.

"General He, the enemy army is holding the pass and not fighting." A general beside him leaned over his horse and said.

This general is He Renke, the pioneer of the Shang Kingdom, seeing that the scolding is fruitless, he already has a grudge in his heart, and immediately raised the big knife and shouted: "Beat the drum and cheer, attack the city." ”

The drums of the attack sounded in the Shang army's array, and the soldiers shouted and rushed to Tiancang Pass.

"The enemy is attacking" Sun Ke shouted, and hurriedly ordered the city to be on guard, and the archers were ready.

The merchant army was overwhelming, surging up from all sides, to the side of the moat, and set up the bamboo row that had been prepared, and the soldiers stepped on the bamboo row to cross the moat, and began to set up ladders to attack the city under the Tiancang Pass.

Tiancang Pass archers shot arrows one after another, and by the moat below, the archers of the Shang Kingdom also shot arrows at the city under the cover of shields, covering their soldiers to start attacking the city.

Arrows came and went up and down the city, and the soldiers poured a batch, and immediately poured a batch, and the sound of the arrow feathers breaking through the wind hissed, and the frightened voyage shrank behind the pillars of the city tower and did not dare to show their heads.

Some soldiers climbed up the siege ladder, but were stopped by a row of iron pillars on the city wall. What is it? Before he could figure it out, he was stabbed by a soldier in the city. There are even more brave people, seeing that there is no way to retreat behind them, they hold the iron pillar with both hands, suspend their bodies in the air, and pull the iron pillar with their own weight. The guardrail, which had just been erected, was not well instilled, and was pulled up by the soldiers and fell down from the city with them.

This parapet prevented the soldiers from climbing the wall, but it also prevented the defenders from throwing rolling stones downward. The soldiers of the Shang State came up to use this method, sacrificed themselves to fly over, desperately pulled the guardrail off, and worked hard for a moment, there were few guardrails on the city wall, and the soldiers of the Liang State began to throw thunder stones and rolling wood downward, and the Shang State could not attack.

"General, our army has suffered too many casualties, can we postpone the siege?" Seeing that Liang Guo was defending the city and was not in a panic, his own soldiers under the city were already piled up like a mountain, and asked He Renke to say.

"No, if you retreat at this time, you will not lose many soldiers in vain. The enemy was exhausted and continued to beat the drums. "He Renke is unwilling, he can't beat a small Tiancang Pass, how can he be a pioneer and attack Liang Guo.

The war drums in the business ** were urgent, and the soldiers marched forward bravely. The corpses under the city wall were already piled up high, and the Shang soldiers could step on the corpses to reach the halfway of the city wall, and then climb the ladder to continue the siege.

At the city gate, the crash had knocked the city gate and was about to fall off, and the soldiers in the pass used a thick tree to resist it, and the city gate dangled and was about to collapse.

"Hurry up and tell your lordship, the city gate will not be able to withstand it." The captain of the gate clenched his teeth, grasped the trunk of the tree with both hands, leaned his body against it, and turned to shout to the soldier behind him.

When he heard that the gates were about to be breached, he hurriedly ordered the gates to be lowered. It's just that the gate was built in a hurry, and it was too late to build it with pig iron, so it was only made of wooden planks, and a layer of iron sheet was put on the bread outside.

The soldiers of the Shang Kingdom smashed the city gate open, and found that there was still a layer of city gate inside, so they replaced it with a group of soldiers and continued to knock on the door. This gate was not comparable to the city gate, and it was not able to bear the strength, and in a moment it was knocked open, and the two armies fought at the city gate.

"My lord, the city gate has been lost, and the enemy army has entered the pass." A soldier ran up to the city, and in a panic he told the voyage.

Yuanhang knew that Tiancang Pass could not be defended for a long time, and since it had been broken, there was no need to fight to the death. Hurriedly ordered to abandon the pass and retreat to Jiangzhou, and under the protection of Ah Jin and others, he went down the city wall and ran out of the south gate to Jiangzhou.

Sun Ke and others led the army to break off, and then fought and retreated. The merchant army seemed to have no intention of chasing, and after winning the Tiancang Pass, they collected their troops and went back, and the Liang ** team hurried all the way and withdrew to Jiangzhou City.

In this battle, the Liang State lost more than 3,000 soldiers, and I am afraid that there were no less than 10,000 soldiers in the Shang State. Yuanhang hurriedly summoned several generals to the palace to discuss the military situation.

"Is there any news from the back hall?" Yuanhang asked anxiously and looked at Sun Ke.

Sun Ke shook his head and said, "I haven't received any news yet, and after counting the time, I'm afraid it will take five days for reinforcements to arrive." ”

"Five days!" Yuan Hang frowned, lowered his head and pondered.

"My lord, there is a huge disparity between the strength of the enemy and us, and the reinforcements have not arrived, so our army can only hold on, not meet the enemy." After Fu Yashi finished speaking, he added: "We should immediately deploy defenses, and enlist the young and strong people in the city to help defend the city." ”

"Well, Yashi is right, General Lin went to the city to recruit troops, General Qin went to prepare things to defend the city, and General Gu was in charge of the city defense." After the deployment of the voyage and the sending off of several generals, he hurriedly walked to the back house.

Gathering several ladies together, Yuanhang said with a solemn expression: "The merchant soldiers will attack in a few days, you should pack your bags immediately and leave the city to go to Qianling for shelter." ”

"Xianggong, I will stay with you, how can there be no one by your side." Qinghe looked a little flustered and said first.

"I'm not leaving, I'm going to be by your side." Liqiu covered his abdomen and shook his head.

"You are obedient, take good care of Liqiu, the city will not be broken, and there will be nothing to do." Voyage persuaded them with good words.

Wanyu frowned and asked, "Since the city is not broken, why did Xianggong send us away?" ”

"I'm just in case, I don't have any worries without you."

"Xianggong, let the sisters stay away for a while, and I will stay to protect you." Du Wen got up, looked at the voyage, and said: "You can't have no one around you, ordinary soldiers can't get close to me, I'll stay." ”

Yilan said slowly: "Xianggong, my sister always can't take care of her alone, let the three sisters go first, and Wen'er and I stay." ”

"Okay, stop fighting, let's go."

"I don't." "Me neither." Du Wen and Yilan objected in unison, but they were disobedient at this time.

Wanyue walked over and sat beside Yuanhang, and said softly: "Xianggong, you know what I mean, but you can't be left unattended by your side." Wen'er practices martial arts, she can protect your body, and Yilan can take care of your daily life, so let the two sisters stay with you, otherwise we won't feel at ease when we go. ”

Yuanhang saw that he couldn't move them, so he had to look at Yilan and Du Wen, nodded, and said: "Since this is the case, the two of them will stay, and the three of you will leave for Qianling immediately, and when there is nothing to do, I will send someone to pick you up." ”

Wanyo had tears in her eyes and said, "Everything is subject to the arrangement of the Xianggong, Xianggong, you have to take care of yourself." ”

Qinghe walked over, took Du Wen's hand, and admonished: "Sister, the prime minister will be handed over to you, but you have to protect his safety." ”

"Sister, don't worry." Du Wen nodded and replied.

Tang Ling summoned Dao Zi and the others from a long voyage, and he didn't know when the Shang Kingdom would attack, so he ordered Ah Jin and August to escort them back to Qianling overnight.

Sure enough. In the middle of the night, the Shang State gathered more than 100,000 troops and surrounded Jiangzhou City.

"General Sun, what's the situation?" Yuanhang didn't dare to fall asleep, and soon after lying down, he heard that the merchant army was besieging the city, and hurried to the city tower.

Sun Ke looked at the enemy camp outside the city, and said in a deep voice: "The enemy army has surrounded Jiangzhou, and I am afraid that the city will be attacked tomorrow." ”

"How is the distribution of troops in the city?"

"I am at the north gate, General Gu is at the east gate, General Qin is at the west gate, and General Lin is at the south gate." Sun Ke paused and continued: "There are still less than 60,000 troops in the city, and more than 30,000 young and strong people have been recruited. ”

"It will take five days for reinforcements to arrive at the earliest, and we will have to hold on for five days." Yuanhang was a little worried, the merchant army fought bravely, he had just seen it in the daytime, and now the strength of his troops was more than double, I am afraid that it would be difficult to hold on.

"Don't worry, even if there is only one soldier left, you must be with Jiangzhou City."

"Try your best to defend the city, but you can't hold it, so you will break through and retreat to Jingzhou, and you can't die." The ancients were pedantic, they could beat you, but if they couldn't run, they wouldn't be stupid.

After waiting quietly all night, the merchant army did not move. As soon as dawn broke on the second day, the horn of attack sounded among the troops outside the city.

Yuanhang hurriedly ran out of the castle tower, lying on the city wall and looking down. The enemy forces are lined up and slowly moving forward.

"Archer prepare!" Sun Ke stood on the edge of the city tower, stretched out his hand and pulled out his long sword, and shouted an order.

When the merchant army reached a distance of 200 meters from the city wall, it suddenly stopped, and several rows of ballista carts were pushed out.

"It's not good, the enemy is about to release arrows, everyone be careful." Yuanhang hurriedly stuck to the battlements, stretched out his hand and pulled Du Wen over, only revealing half of his face and peeking down.

Sure enough, the enemy adjusted their positions, and a rush of war drums sounded, and the soldiers rushed forward with the sound of killing the sky. At the same time, the ballista began to fire bows and arrows, and the arrows flew close to the battlements of the wall at a distance of two hundred meters, and they hit the towers one after another.

Yuanhang watched one arrow after another fly over his head, and realized that the powerful bow was not a bow and arrow, but was fired with a ballista, and it was fired continuously, and the distance was so far that the archers in the city could not fight back, so they had to shrink behind the battlements and watch the enemy rush to the bottom of the city.

How could this merchant clock be so smart, he actually created a repeater that he couldn't figure out.

After a few moments, the bow stopped. You don't need to look at the voyage to know that the enemy must have climbed the city wall, and the merchant army stopped firing the arrows for fear of hurting them. Hurriedly shouted: "The enemy is coming, defend the city." ”

The Liang army in the city got up from the ground and rushed to the edge of the city with weapons in hand.

The soldiers of the merchant army had already climbed halfway, and suddenly there was no cover of a strong bow, and the city suddenly rolled wood and thunder stones one after another, crying for a while, and fell a lot from the ladder.

The general under the city hurriedly shouted: "Archers, release arrows, cover the siege of the city." ”

The merchant archers shot at the city with bows, and the soldiers defending the city were suppressed again, and they did not dare to show their heads, so they could only release arrows indiscriminately.

The city of Jiangzhou was in chaos, and the young and strong people who were temporarily recruited did not participate in the defense of the city, but only transported the rolling logs needed to defend the city back and forth, and carried the wounded down the city wall.

"My lord, the south gate is in an emergency." A soldier climbed up the North City Tower, happened to encounter a voyage, and hurriedly crawled over to pay respects.

"What? Just after the battle, it was urgent, how did Lin Ziyu defend it. When Yuanhang heard this, he became anxious. called Sun Ke to advise, took Dao Zi and others down the city tower, and urged the horse to rush to the south gate.