Late at night, a light rain came unexpectedly, the fine and dense autumn rain with a hint of chill, the white vast cold fog shrouded the distant mountains and wilderness, the woods from time to time came the hungry cry of the night owl, in the autumn night, autumn wind, autumn rain rendering, the earth became extraordinarily cold and desolate.

This is the southern foot of the Baiti Mountains in Hedong County, an army of more than 10,000 people marched in line on the slightly muddy official road, each soldier carrying a hat, completely ignoring the invasion of the cold wind and drizzle, they were speeding towards Hedong City under the cover of night.

As early as when Zhang Xuan arrived in Liang County to prepare to attack the Wagang Army, Zhang Xuan secretly issued an order to Wei Chigong, ordering him to lead 10,000 elite soldiers to gather in Yiguan City, Hanoi County, and prepare to march to Hedong City at any time.

Hedong City is a strategic artery connecting Bingzhou and Guanzhong, especially the Pujin Pass on the Yellow River outside Hedong City is the gate of Guanzhong, take Pujin Pass, Guanzhong Gate is open, Hedong City and Pujin Pass have a vital role in Chang'an, is the throat of Chang'an.

However, due to the main force of the Tang army attacking the Central Plains, another part of the main force fought with Liu Wuzhou north of Taiyuan, and there were 20,000 troops defending the Liang division, and then a part of the army was stationed in Bashu, and the last 30,000 heavy troops were guarding Chang'an and stationed at various key points in Guanzhong.

As a result, the southern part of the state was very empty, and the counties could only rely on the county soldiers to defend the city, and Hedong City also only had 1,000 county soldiers to defend the city, and the capture of Hedong City also cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Bingzhou.

But Wei Chigong's goal is not only Hedong City, they also want to seize Pujin Pass, directly threaten the safety of Guanzhong, although Zhang Xuan is not able to attack Guanzhong in the overall situation, but occupying Hedong City is a dangerous move, if this move is good, it is enough to break Li Yuan's heart and gall, forcing Li Yuan to withdraw his troops to defend Guanzhong.

After several days of day and night, in the early morning of this day, the 10,000 army led by Wei Chigong has arrived at the foot of Fangcun Mountain, thirty miles west of Hedong City, but there is no rain here, the autumn is high and refreshing, which makes people feel good, Wei Chigong saw that all the troops were exhausted after a night of marching, so he found a pine forest, let the soldiers rest on the spot.

The 10,000 soldiers were extremely tired, and they hastily ate a little dry food and fell asleep, while Wei Chigong found more than a dozen major generals and discussed with everyone the evacuation of the attack on Hedong City.

"Judging from the intelligence, there are only 1,000 county soldiers in Hedong City, the defense is lax, we can occupy it without much effort, the key is Pujin Pass, the intelligence says that there are 3,000 troops to defend it, and the pass is dangerous, we also did not carry siege weapons, the hard attack must not be able to take it, we can only outwit, I decided to take Pujin Pass first, and then occupy Hedong City, so as not to alarm the defenders of Pujin Pass, everyone talk about it!"

Everyone was silent in thought, and Wei Chi Gong saw that General Wang Xuanjing had something in his eyes, so he said, "General Wang, let's talk about it!" ”

Wang Xuanjing has made great contributions to defending the pot pass, and has been promoted to the general of Eagle Yang by Zhang Xuan, and Wei Chigong regards him as his right-hand man, Wei Chigong knows that he dares to take responsibility and is quite strategic, so he wants to ask him what he thinks.

Wang Xuanjing hurriedly bowed down and said: "I think that instead of meditating here, it is better to go to Pujin Pass to have a look, I think there will be gains." ”

Wei Chigong nodded happily and said, "I'll leave this matter to you!" ”

Pujin Pass is the Xiong Danger Pass connecting Qin and Jin, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Qin State in order to seek the Hedong region, built a pontoon bridge built by ships on the Yellow River outside Pujin Pass, for more than 1,000 years, the pontoon bridge was destroyed countless times, and was repaired countless times.

And Pujin Pass is also built very strong, the city is high and the gate is small, it can be said that a husband is a pass, ten thousand people do not open, the difficulty of seizing the city is no less than fighting for Tongguan, but Pujin Pass is the only way to go to Guanzhong from the east of the river.

Therefore, the capture of Pujin Pass was a crucial step in whether Chang Jang Hyun could force Li Yuan to withdraw his troops back to Guanzhong, and he gave this task to Wei Chigong.

According to Wei Chigong's plan, the capture of Pujin Pass should be outwitted, and before the Guanzhong army rushed to support, it was necessary to seize Pujin Pass and Hedong City at a lightning speed, so as to deter Guanzhong and Chang'an, which would not only force Li Yuan to give up the plan to advance eastward into the Central Plains, but also deal a heavy blow to the morale of the army and people in Chang'an and the hundred officials of the imperial court, and would shake Li Yuan's rule.

Zhang Xuan has been thinking about this idea for a long time, and since the Tang army attacked Huguan, Zhang Xuan has been looking for an opportunity to implement this plan.

And this time, the Tang army went south to Shangluo County to conquer the Central Plains, which made Zhang Xuan see the opportunity, and helping Wang Shichong was just a favor, and he wanted to deal a heavy blow to Li Yuan and his subjects mentally and psychologically.

Despite the continuous wars in the surrounding area, the southern part of the state and the Guanzhong region have entered the era of peace, there is no threat of war, Pujin Pass has become an important place of commerce, it is not only an important military position, it is also the only way for goods and personnel to come and go between the state and Guanzhong, every day the caravan is endless, the personnel come and go through the endless flow, and the soldiers guarding the pass have also made enough oil and water.

Wang Xuanjing and several of his subordinates pretended to be ordinary passers-by sitting in a tea shed on the east bank of the Yellow River to rest and drink tea, paying attention to the every move of the soldiers at Pujin Pass, and there were also dozens of soldiers standing at the entrance of the pontoon bridge on the east bank of the Yellow River.

"General, we can pretend to be the Tang Army to enter the pass, and by the time they find out that something is wrong, we have already rushed into the pass!" One soldier suggested in a low voice.

Wang Xuanjing shook his head, in fact, this method is good, he thought of it as soon as he came, they could control the soldiers on the east bank, and when the army of Pujin Pass reacted, a part of the army had already rushed into the pass.

But the problem is that the armor of the Tang army is not the same as that of the Sui army, they do not carry the armor of the Tang army, and they can't pretend to be, of course, they can capture Hedong City first and pass the pass by pretending to be county soldiers, but they are afraid that attacking Hedong City will immediately alarm the defenders of Pujin Pass, God knows how many ways to contact each other?

At this time, a caravan came to the entrance of the pontoon bridge on the east bank, and the merchant seemed to say something, and several soldiers guarding the pass gave them a bunch of small white flags, and the caravan planted the white flags on the cart carrying goods, and went straight to the bridge to Pujin Pass.

Wang Xuanjing felt a little strange, staring intently at this caravan, and finally found that they had entered the customs directly, and they were not interrogated, he was greatly shocked, and this kind of thing, could it be that those little white flags worked?

He immediately summoned the tea shack guys and asked him with a smile: "I saw a caravan pass through the customs just now, but the soldiers didn't check it at all, didn't interrogate, and just let them go, what's going on?" ”

The guy laughed: "Then it must be a white flag on the goods!" ”

"Exactly!"

"That's right, that's the flag of exemption from inspection, also known as the flag of the elite, when the powerful pass through the customs, the soldiers will not check, this is the rule of the Son of Heaven in Chang'an, and the officials above the fifth grade can enjoy it."

"But I don't think that caravan just now looks like a powerful person."

The guy laughed, "This triangular white flag also has a name, called the power and money flag, you don't have power, you can have money, how can this kind of loophole in the law not use it to make a fortune?" Anyway, this flag is legal, and as for how to use it and how to distinguish it, it is a matter of the specific gatekeeper below, and the court will not know. ”

Wang Xuanjing's eyes lit up, he had a way

Pujin Guanshou will be called He Panyi, he was originally a Hu businessman, 12 years of great cause, he and his brother He Panren rebelled in Guanzhong Si Zhuyuan, gathered tens of thousands of people, and they rebelled together with Li Zhongwen, Xiang Shanzhi, Qiu Shili and other heroes in Guanzhong, and later they were all incorporated by Li Shentong, became Li Shentong's generals, this time Li Shimin led 80,000 troops to the Central Plains, and the Guanzhong area was garrisoned by Li Shentong's 30,000 troops, He Panyi followed his brother to attack Chang'an, was named Du Lieutenant, and led the army to garrison Feng Yijun.

This time, Li Shentong was stationed in Guanzhong, so He Panyi led 3,000 troops from his headquarters to garrison Pujin Pass.

He Panyi himself was born in Hu Shang, and his desire for money has long been immersed in his blood, plus he used to be a bandit in Guanzhong, and he was extremely contemptuous of the imperial court system, so after he took over Pujin Pass, he did more black than his predecessor, and made money more ruthlessly, as long as he gave money, even if it was a first-class contraband, he would let the horse pass.

In the afternoon, He Panyi was inspecting the city, when a captain came forward with a short and fat businessman, and the captain stepped forward and whispered to He Panyi: "General, there is a fat sheep here!" (To be continued.) )