At dusk, Wei Chigong led more than 100 soldiers from Hedong City to Pujin Pass, he received an urgent message from Wang Xuanjing not long ago, the Tang army has increased troops outside Pujin Pass, which made Wei Chigong vigilant.

Just two days ago, he received a quick letter from Wei Yunqi, the negotiations between the two sides could not continue, and the Tang army was very likely to break the military situation, reminding him to be prepared.

Wei Chigong walked quickly to the gate of Pujin Pass, Wang Xuanjing had already led the crowd to wait here, he stepped forward and bowed and saluted, "See the general!" ”

"How's it going?"

Wei Chigong did not stop, and continued to stride towards the city, Wang Xuanjing hurriedly followed and said: "This afternoon, hundreds of people from the other side came to inspect the city, according to the observation of the lowly position, the general headed by is likely to be Li Shimin, the king of Qin. ”

"Are you sure?" Wei Chi stopped.

"Humble duties are only sixty percent sure!"

Wei Chigong knew that Wang Xuanjing was a very cautious person, and without a word of lie, his sixty percent certainty was equivalent to ninety percent of others' certainty.

Wei Chigong did not speak, and walked quickly to the head of the city, hundreds of soldiers on the city head stretched their bows and raised crossbows, vigilantly watching the thousands of Tang soldiers at the foot of the mountain outside the city, at this time, the Tang soldiers were busy repairing the fortifications, and several bluestone platforms had been built.

"Do you see what they're building?" Wei Chigong looked at the stone platform and asked.

"I think they're building trebuchet platforms." Wang Xuanjing replied on the side.

Wei Chigong nodded, "That's right, it's indeed a trebuchet platform." ”

He looked at the camp in the distance for a moment, the banner of the Tang army camp had changed, and the banner of the word 'Li' had been inlaid with gold edges, which was the symbol of the prince, Wang Xuanjing should be right, the commander of the Tang army was changed from Li Shentong to Li Shimin.

"General, what are we going to do?" Wang Xuanjing asked in a low voice.

"What do you think?" Wei Chigong smiled and asked, "I want to hear your opinion?" ”

Wang Xuanjing was silent for a moment and said, "I don't dare to say it. ”

"That's it, do you still persuade me to surrender to the Tang Dynasty?" Wei Chigong laughed.

"Of course not!"

Wang Xuanjing gritted his teeth and said, "I want to persuade the general to give up Pujin Pass!" ”

"Go on!" Wei Chigong's gaze became deep.

Perhaps feeling that Wei Chigong did not resist, Wang Xuanjing continued: "Pujin Pass is a natural danger to the state, but not to the pass, and the woods on the mountain are too dense, the Tang army can use the cover of the woods to directly attack the city, as long as there are siege weapons, it is inevitable to attack the city, and the humble position is very worried that we will not have time to destroy the pontoon bridge when we retreat, instead of retreating in a hurry, it is better to retreat first, directly destroy the pontoon bridge, and then we will build fortifications on the bank of the Yellow River, relying on the defense of the Yellow River, and the humble duty feels more certain." ”

Wei Chigong had a plan, their reinforcements had arrived, he knew how to deal with the Tang army, and after a moment of silence, Wei Chigong said: "I can accept this plan, immediately withdraw the troops to the east bank, and directly destroy the pontoon bridge." ”

Wang Xuanjing was overjoyed, "If you do this humble job, you will definitely not disappoint the general." ”

Wei Chigong nodded, "Before dark, this matter must be completed!" ”

The Tang army spent a night building five stone platforms at the foot of the mountain, and then installed five heavy trebuchets on the stone platforms, the range of the trebuchet is 300 steps, although the attack on Pujin Pass needs to shoot from the back, but the mountain is only dozens of zhang high, and the trebuchet can still easily attack the city.

The day gradually brightened, the Tang army camp sounded the rumbling war drums, and then the camp gate opened, a group of Tang soldiers from the camp lined up and walked out, murderous to the foot of the mountain, 30,000 Tang troops at the foot of the mountain set up a formation, banners, swords and guns like a forest, five heavy trebuchets were ready, just waiting for the commander Li Shimin to give an order.

At this time, Li Shimin rode on a horse and looked at the city from a distance, only to see that the city was full of Sui soldiers in armor, who did not seem to be flustered, very steady, and after looking at it for a while, Li Shimin felt a little wrong, so he turned around and asked: "Was there any movement on the city yesterday?" ”

A scout captain stepped forward and replied, "Back to Your Highness, there were Sui soldiers in the city last night, but no one seemed to patrol it. ”

Li Shimin frowned, and immediately ordered: "Take a few brothers to the city to have a look." ”

The captain turned over and dismounted, waved his hand, and ran to the top of the mountain with a few soldiers, Li Shimin watched them run into the woods, and then looked up at the city, he felt a little strange, why did the Sui soldiers on the city not move, he began to have a little doubt in his heart.

At this time, the eldest grandson Wuji stepped forward and whispered: "Your Highness, there seems to be fraud in the city!" ”

"I noticed it too, wait a little longer."

After a while, the scout captain rushed out of the woods and shouted, "Your Highness, the city is full of scarecrows!" ”

The Tang soldiers were in an uproar, Li Shimin was furious, and waved his sword, "Give me a siege!" ”

Thousands of soldiers rushed to the city like a tide, they smashed open the city gate with a giant log, the soldiers entered the city, Li Shimin was so angry that he trembled, urging the horse to run towards Pujin Pass, and dozens of generals behind also urged the horse to follow, and in a moment, they killed into Pujin Pass like a gust of wind.

Pujin Pass was indeed empty, except for the Tang soldiers who had just come in, there was not a single Sui soldier, nor a bag of grain, and in the urn city, hundreds of straw men were piled together, and several soldiers were lighting them with torches.

Li Shimin did not stop it, directly urged the horse to rush out of the east city gate, the scene that appeared in front of him made his heart cold for half a while, as he expected, the Sui army had destroyed the pontoon bridge leading to the other side of the Yellow River, destroyed it cleanly, there was no trace at all, only the two big iron stakes on the bank were tied to the iron chain, at this time, the Tang army generals rushed out of the city gate, the empty Yellow River made everyone stunned, where did the pontoon bridge go?

Li Shimin smashed his fist on the wall brick, he knew very well in his heart that it was easy to seize Pujin Pass, but it was difficult to cross the Yellow River, and it was even more difficult to seize Hedong City, especially the Sui army took the initiative to withdraw, indicating that their defense would be placed on the east bank of the Yellow River.

But in any case, this fierce battle still has to be fought, and they must open the passage between Guanzhong and Bingzhou, otherwise what will the Tang army in Taiyuan do?

Li Shimin then wrote a letter to his father, informing him that the Pujin Pass had been taken and that the threat of the pass had been lifted, but because the Sui army had destroyed the pontoon bridge, they had to force their way across the river, and the casualties would be unpredictable.

Li Shimin immediately ordered to requisition 300 small and medium-sized cargo ships from the nearest large and small rivers, although the Tang army built a canal from the Wei River to Pujin Pass, but the ships could not directly cross the Pujin Pass into the Yellow River, Li Shimin ordered 10,000 soldiers to carry 300 ships from the canal to the Pujin Pass into the Yellow River.

At this time, the eldest grandson Wuji offered a plan: "Your Highness, I observed for a long time, and found that the Sui army does not have a boat at present, we can build a pontoon bridge to the middle of the river, and the soldiers will get on the boat from the middle of the river, which will save the soldiers a lot of physical strength and ensure that the soldiers rush to the opposite bank at the fastest speed." ”

This plan won Li Shimin's approval, and he was also worried that the army was a little difficult to row a small boat to cross the Yellow River, and the plan of the eldest grandson Wuji came like a timely rain, Li Shimin immediately accepted this plan and ordered: "Pass my order, and the fortifications will build a pontoon bridge to the middle of the river first!" ”

Li Shimin gave an order, 3,000 fortifications immediately began to act, they used 200 small boats as the bridge body, began to build a pontoon bridge in the Yellow River, fortunately, the Yellow River pontoon bridge itself has a foundation, although the Sui army demolished the bridge, but the underwater part of the wooden stakes are still there, as long as the iron chain is used to pass through the big hole in the underwater wooden stakes, the boats on the river have a support, will not be washed away by the river.

The pontoon bridge was restored very smoothly, it took only one day, the pontoon bridge on the Yellow River was built to about 500 steps away from the east bank, this distance is just the place where the crossbow and trebuchet on the other side of the river could not attack, a huge platform has been built here, just like a temporary trestle wharf, the long trestle bridge extends from the west bank of the river to the middle of the river, the temporary trestle wharf can be parked on the front and back left and right, the long trestle bridge is a favorable place to dock ships, dozens of medium-sized ships can be berthed at one time.

The day is not yet dawn, countless fortifications are consolidating the bridge on the trestle, Li Shimin personally commanded the soldiers to work overtime to build the bridge on the trestle, he was also anxious, in the middle of the night last night, he received an urgent edict from his father, only gave him five days to take Hedong City, if he can't take it, then continue to negotiate.

Li Shimin calculated the time, if he could successfully seize the east bank of the river before dark today, then he still had four days to attack Hedong City, with the height and strength of Hedong City, it would be easy to capture it in four days.

At this moment, suddenly a soldier pointed to the northern river and shouted, "Your Highness, what is that?" ”

Li Shimin hurriedly looked at the upper reaches of the Yellow River, only to see dozens of small bright spots on the surface of the river, like clusters of flames, floating in their direction.

"Not good!"

Li Shimin was taken aback, it was the Sui army that was going to use a fireboat to burn the pontoon bridge, and he hurriedly ordered: "Three thousand spearmen immediately go to the pontoon bridge!" ”

Ling Rushan fell, and a group of spearmen who had gathered and waited on the shore rushed onto the pontoon bridge, and at this time, the fireboat was less than a hundred paces away from them, and all the soldiers could see clearly, about seventy or eighty rafts floated on the river, and the rafts were lit with raging fire, and it was obvious that the Sui army was preparing to burn down the trestle bridge that had just been built.

Many soldiers turned white with fright and were at a loss for what to do, but Li Shimin calmed down, he had found a way to deal with it, and immediately ordered: "The water ghost goes into the water and capsizes the raft!" ”

Dozens of water spirits jumped into the water and struggled to swim towards the burning raft, and three thousand spearmen were already lined up on the trestle, spear in hand, ready to block the raft from approaching the pontoon.

In the end, only a dozen rafts approached the pontoon, but they were held up by soldiers with spears, and then the water ghosts who came also overturned the dozen rafts, and finally defused the first counterattack of the Sui army without danger. (To be continued.) )