The days are long in summer, and the sky is hazy in the middle of the first shift, and it is also by means of this hazy cover, the Cao army, which has already been prepared for night battles, immediately took action, more than 800 carefully selected mountain combat masters, under the leadership of Xiahou Yuan's nephew Xiahou Shang, went out of the pass, quickly came to the middle section of the Hangu Guangu Road, climbed to the top of the cliffs on both sides of the valley road before it was dark, concentrated the torches, fire oil and other things brought by the army in one place, and quickly collected the rolling stones and trees in the grass and shrubs before, and concentrated them in the narrow part of the mountain roadWhen the opportunity came, he immediately blocked the narrow mountain path under the cliff with torches, wood, stones and other objects.

During this period, the patrol sentry of the Cao army team has always closely monitored the movements of the valley mouth, and did not give the Xuzhou scout sentry a chance to detect the ambush of the Cao army, but fortunately, the pass of Hangu Pass is narrow and it is very easy to block, so the Cao army sentry team can be sure that the Xuzhou army did not notice the ambush of the Xiahou Shang team, and after the Xiahou Shang team is in place, the Cao army sentry team will immediately retreat to the Hangu Pass to avoid startling the snake and making the Xuzhou army notice something wrong.

At the same time, the main force of the Cao army in Hangu Pass is also already making the final preparations for the battle, checking the dry food and preparing the torches, stringing the bow with arrows, sharpening the swords and guns, and seizing the time to make the final rest, during which the more than 10,000 troops preparing to participate in the war are almost silent, up to Zhang Liao and Zhang He, the most capable generals in the Cao army, down to the ordinary soldiers, all of them have solemn expressions and are very nervous, because they know that there will definitely be a big battle tonight, and the opponent is still the most powerful Xuzhou army in the whole world. A little carelessness in the fighting. Then the consequences will be unimaginable.

The sick Cao Boss personally came to the east gate of Hangu Pass to supervise the battle, looking at the gradually darkening east sky, and the past events could not help but float to Cao Boss's heart, whenever he thought of the legacy of raising tigers under the city of Xuzhou, and thought of the self-army at the end of the strong crossbow was suddenly attacked by the Xuzhou army that had been recuperated, and was forced to give up the Xuchang capital city that had spent countless painstaking efforts, Cao Boss's heart was as painful as being twisted by a knife, and he hated his son-in-law and secretly admired it.

It was a cloudy night, and the stars and moon were dark. I can't see my fingers. The weather is both favorable and unfavorable for the Cao army, the advantage is that it can cover up the ambush of the own army, and the disadvantage is that it is difficult for the Cao army to judge the enemy's situation, so it is seen that the agreed three watches are coming. Except for the faint sound of some barely audible footsteps marching, the Cao army's troops. It is impossible to tell how many enemies are coming outside the gate. Who is hiding there and who is the general who leads the army.

The timing leaked the floating arrow under the pot, and finally pointed to the position of the third watch. The sound of the husband also sounded in the depths of the city, and Cao Jun and Wenwu in the gate tower stood up straight together, and neatly turned their gaze to Cao Boss's black face. Boss Cao first closed his eyes lightly, and secretly prayed for the blessing of the heavens, the pottery thief did not see through his clever plan this time, and then opened his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Do according to the plan!" ”

On the wall, the three red lanterns agreed upon by Zhang Liao and Deputy Director Tao were raised, and Cao Lao and others looked nervously at the outside of the gate, and soon were pleasantly surprised to find that not far from the front of the gate, less than a hundred steps away, three torches suddenly appeared and shook back and forth. Cao Lao was overjoyed, and nodded to Zhang Liao, Zhang Liao understood, first knelt down on one knee and saluted Cao Lao, and then got up and rushed down the pass without saying a word to lead the troops to fight. ”

The closed heavy door slowly opened, and the sound of calling for the Xuzhou army to take the opportunity to enter the pass sounded under the gate, and the dark place outside the gate also sounded the deafening war drum horn shouting and killing, and the shock was so loud that the mountains echoed, the sky collapsed, Cao Lao Da waved his hand resolutely, and the same fierce war drums and horns sounded on the Hangu Pass Gate, and in an instant, the sound of killing in the dark places on both sides of the Hangu Pass and the gate was everywhere, Zhang Liao led the army to attack with 4,000 troops on the front, and the two generals on the left and right sides of Feng Kai and Niu Gai also led a thousand ambush soldiers to kill, The three of them came out together, and the clamp was clamped in the direction where the sound came from.

"Hit the mark! Evacuate! Evacuate! The screams of the Xuzhou army sounded outside the pass, and the few torches that had just been lit quickly retreated in the direction of the narrow pass, and Boss Cao laughed loudly and said, "Withdraw? It's late! Beat the drums with all your strength, attack the whole army, and you must annihilate all these enemies who have entered the valley in the valley! ”

Dozens of cowhide drums on the wall beat more and more violently, and the countless torches lit up in the Cao army one after another illuminated the small open land outside the east gate of Hangu Pass, and the three Cao armies were like tigers going down the mountain, and like dragons going out to sea, the tide rushed to the direction of the retreat of the Xuzhou army. Although he had experienced similar battles countless times, this time, Boss Cao was still so nervous that his palms were sweating, and he kept praying in his heart: "I hope that the pottery thief personally leads the troops, even if it is not the pottery thief who personally leads the troops, at least I must bless me to kill a pottery thief general, right?" ”

At the same time, six or seven miles away in the narrow part of the pass, the Cao army team ambushed on the top of the cliffs on both sides of the narrow pass, after hearing the war drums on the wall, also immediately started to put down countless rolling stones and fallen trees, and also threw down countless lit torches and firewood and grass that had been splashed with fire oil, and all the trees that could be cut down were also cut down, and they threw down the valley as much as possible, and in a moment the mountain road that was not more than a few meters wide was blocked, and the torch firewood and grass ignited the trees again, and the newly cut trees and firewood were filled with smoke, and the smoke was blown by the night wind. Quickly spread the Shili Valley Road east of Hanguguan Guancheng, the smoke was charming, and the five fingers were almost invisible, and the Xuzhou army trapped in the west of the valley road was almost a foregone conclusion!

Why say almost? Presumably friends should have heard the story of the upper valley, if there is a downpour at this time, and the fire in the valley is extinguished in time, then the Xuzhou army still has hope to successfully break through. And although Boss Cao, who has always been lucky on the battlefield, did not encounter such unfortunate things, he unexpectedly encountered a strange thing - the Cao army team never saw the shadow of half of the Xuzhou soldiers until they chased into the valley road!

"Ahh There is an ambush underground, there is an ambush underground! ”

What frightened the Cao army even more was another strange thing, after quickly entering the valley road that was only a dozen meters wide at the widest point, the Cao army soldiers who rushed to the front seemed to have fallen into some kind of magic. Suddenly, he hugged his feet and screamed, and many people were hit forward by their companions who couldn't catch up behind, and the screams became even more violent and poignant, "Don't push!" Don't push! There are thorns in the ground! There are iron spikes on the ground! ”

Of course, the iron thorns on the ground are the Zama nails used by the head of the Xuzhou army, and they are also scattered all over the valley road, and the Cao army, who is eager to make meritorious contributions, rushes into the valley road, of course, the first thing is to be stabbed by the Zama nails, dozens of Cao soldiers were seriously injured and forced to retreat into the battlefield, Zhang Liao and Niu Gai and other generals were helpless. The soldiers were ordered to quickly wrap their clothes with spears and make improvised brooms. While sweeping the Zama nails on the road to the side of the road, he chased and killed in the valley road. But after such a slight delay, the Xuzhou army had already fled far away, and at the same time, the thick smoke completely enveloped the entire valley road. It was also more difficult for Cao's army to discover the true location of the Xuzhou soldiers.

In fact, as early as when I learned that there were Zama nails in the gate. Boss Cao, Guo Jia and others already had a premonition that something was not good. But the fighter plane was fleeting, and Xiahou Shang's team had cut off the retreat of the Xuzhou army, in order to seize this opportunity to annihilate the enemy. Boss Cao still stubbornly ordered Zhang Liao's team to continue to pursue deep into the valley, and at the same time, Boss Cao had to secretly comfort himself, "The pottery thief is treacherous, in order to prevent our army from having an ambush, it is normal for the sneak attack team to carry a horse nail to block our army's pursuers, I hope this traitor has no other tricks." ”

The Xuzhou army really had no other tricks in a short period of time, but when Zhang Liao and Niu Gai's team chased into the depths of the smoke-filled valley road, they said that they couldn't find the shadow of the Xuzhou army, and the Xuzhou army that was beating gongs and drums before seemed to be from heaven to earth, and disappeared out of thin air in the strange rocky and grassy Hangu Road, and the Cao army team scattered to search, and never found the shadow of even a Xuzhou soldier, and at the same time responsible for the blocking task of the Cao army Xiahou Shang team, He never saw or heard the Xuzhou army passing under his feet.

Surprised and confused, Zhang Liao naturally had to send a messenger to report the situation to Cao Boss, the envoy used a lot of strength to send the news back to Hangu Pass, Cao Boss and Guo Jia and others looked at each other, and once suspected that there was a small road in the valley road to get out of the valley. But after careful consideration, Guo Jia, who had become thin and skeletal, suddenly turned pale, and when he hurriedly spoke, he coughed violently nervously, and said with difficulty while coughing in pain: "Lord...... Lord, we are among ...... Hit the plan, the pottery thief's soldiers and horses must have put on our military uniforms and ...... Mixed into our ranks. ”

"Son of a bitch! How can there be such a traitor in this world?! Boss Cao scolded with great grace and yelled: "Mingjin! Hurry up Mingjin! Close the gate, and don't let a single soldier go back to the gate! Let's assemble our team outside the gate and carefully screen the team for me! Carefully screen the team for me! ”

Roaring, Boss Cao couldn't help but bend over and cough violently, coughing painfully and coughing out a few mouthfuls of blood, while screaming in despair in his heart, "I've been tricked again!" This time it's a big trouble, if the main force of the pottery thieves takes the opportunity to kill the pass, our team will be unable to advance or retreat! ”

Deputy Director Tao has never disappointed Lord Yuezhang, through scout reconnaissance, found the location of Xiahou Shang's ambush, Deputy Director Tao immediately sent a large number of mountain combat experts, through the cover of night and smoke, sneaked to the Cao army's ambush position to climb up, climbed to the top of the relatively open hillside, and suddenly launched an attack on Xiahou Shang's team, Xiahou Shang and realized that the situation was not right when it was too late, Xuzhou infantry had already killed the front, and Xiahou Shang and Cao Boss and friendly troops could not get in touch in time, Seeing that the army had completed the task of blocking the valley, he led an ambush with only more than 800 people to fight and retreat, and slowly retreated in the direction of Hangu Pass.

At this time, the main brigade of the Xuzhou army also made a move, and the Xuzhou infantry who were responsible for the task of opening the road marched into the valley with straw bags full of dirt, and transported the soil bags through the way of manpower transmission, and threw the soil bags onto the trees that were set on fire by the Cao army. And outside the valley road, Deputy Director Tao's handsome little face was already full of hideous smiles, and he smiled proudly: "Old man, it is estimated that you should also find out that the sneak attack team of the son-in-law is actually wearing your military uniform, it doesn't matter, let's screen it slowly, when you screen out my five hundred elite soldiers, I will definitely have killed Hangu Pass." ”

The son-in-law was smiling, but the poor old man was vomiting blood, and after the golden gong sounded, the own team that was trapped in the valley would not be able to withdraw at all for a while. Finally sent a messenger to inform the armies, saying that the Xuzhou soldiers have mixed into their own team, the elite level has long been inferior to the previous Cao army team is inevitably a big mess, mixed into the Cao army team Xuzhou soldiers also took the opportunity to make trouble, the wicked first complained and pointed to the Cao army soldiers next to them and shouted treachery, setting off countless twists and turns, among which there was also a situation where the Cao soldiers killed each other and fought, Cao Boss was so anxious that he vomited blood on the wall, but he had no choice but to order all the soldiers not to use force. Violators will be immediately beheaded. Then assemble and screen according to Qutun.

According to the Qutun establishment screening, it did have a little effect, several Xuzhou soldiers who tried to blend into the Cao army's team were found by the grassroots generals of the Cao army, but after these Xuzhou soldiers were discovered, they did not flee from the road. It is to shout out loud. Mess with the names of your own team generals. Cao's army was in a hurry and couldn't distinguish the real from the fake, so they had to gather these unidentified soldiers to watch them, but these soldiers took the opportunity to flee into the distance. Attracting Cao Jun to chase and kill, adding to the chaos of Cao Jun's ranks. At the same time, there were more Xuzhou soldiers hiding in the valley road or in the smoke, waiting for the opportunity to infiltrate the Hangu Pass to initiate an internal response.

Deputy Director Tao didn't give Cao Boss too much time to screen, at dawn, after using the soil bag that had already been prepared to open the way forward, Wei Yan was the first to lead the Xuzhou team to kill the Cao army team in front of the Cao army, Zhang Liao, who was blocked outside the pass, had no choice but to quickly arrange for his deputy Niu Gai to lead the army to meet the enemy, and as a result, the Xuzhou soldiers who were ambushed in the valley took the opportunity to blend into the Niu Gai team, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Niu Gai army and Wei Yanjun to fight, suddenly attacked Niu Gai himself and the grassroots generals of the Cao army, and shouted his own people while slashing his companions, and the Niu Gai team was suddenly in chaos, He was killed by the elite soldiers of Danyang under Wei Yan, and was forced to lose his armor and was forced to go to the open area outside the east gate of Hangu Pass, seeking the protection of Zhang Liao's team there.

Seeing this, Boss Cao was also completely desperate, knowing that even if he didn't want to fight in the field, he was forced to have no choice but to send someone to order Zhang Liao, ordering Zhang Liao to repel the enemy at all costs, and then withdraw to the pass after the Xuzhou army retreated. After receiving the order, Zhang Liao also knew that Boss Cao was forced to do this, and in order to keep Hangu Pass, he had to let the self-army fight to the death, so Zhang Liao was not dissatisfied, but immediately organized a team to line up to meet the battle, and fought to the death with the endless Xuzhou army with his back to Hangu Pass.

This is a bloody battle and vicious battle in which both sides risked their lives, in order to let their own soldiers take the opportunity to infiltrate the pass and launch an internal response, and take the Hangu Pass, the eternal Xiongguan, at the lowest cost, the Xuzhou army launched the most fierce all-out attack on Zhang Liao's team from the beginning; In order to protect Hangu Pass and not give the Xuzhou army the opportunity to sneak into the pass to make trouble, Zhang Liao's team could only resist desperately against the wall with their backs, and launched a desperate battle with the Xuzhou army when there was no way to retreat.

The battle line of the two armies is chaotic, the heads of people are surging like ants, the ground is full of corpses and wounded soldiers, the terrible guns and swords are as dense as stormy points, knives and axes, axes and arrows are flying all the time, the follow-up troops of the Xuzhou army offensive is like a tide, like a huge wave of the head of the general continuous slapping of the Cao army's position, the Cao army team is condensed into a group, back against the wall in the Guanshang bow and crossbow cover desperately resistance, and the Xuzhou army team is turned upside down, the sun and the moon are not light, Hangu Pass is already bleeding in a moment, corpses are all over the field.

The brave wins, at this moment, the combat effectiveness advantage of the Xuzhou army is also vividly played, the Wei Yan team of the Xuzhou army first put into the battlefield, as early as before the Cangting War, it was already a ruthless role that could compete with the elite of the Cao army, these years followed the deputy director of Tao's southern expedition to the north and the first in the battle, the combat effectiveness did not decrease but increased, and the combat experience was also richer, and the elite strength of the Cao army team was lost as early as the Central Plains War, although the army formed later also experienced some actual combat tests, But the combat effectiveness has always been unable to compare with the elite of the Cao army back then, in the face of the fierce offensive of the Danyang hooligan soldiers, there is only the ability to parry, there is no power to fight back, if it is not for Zhang Liao in time to order the army to fight against the wall, I am afraid that it has already been killed and scattered by the Danyang hooligan soldiers, and is forced to start a full-scale melee that the Danyang soldiers are best at.

Even so, in the face of the endless offensive of the Xuzhou army, Zhang Liao's team quickly fell into an absolute disadvantage, surrounded by Wei Yan, Ma Yan and Zhang Nan's three Xuzhou army teams in a semi-arc, and could only parry and be beaten, unable to fight back, and at the same time, the Xuzhou soldiers who wore Cao Jun's clothes and mixed into the enemy group also seized the opportunity to quietly make trouble, and sneak attacked the Cao army generals from behind to meet the Cao army and kill the Cao army. Zhang Liao's deputy Feng Kai, because he was distracted by the Xuzhou army's sneak attack, was taken by a Danyang soldier to cut his wrist weapon to the ground, and then was hacked to death by Xuzhou soldiers, and several teams of Xuzhou soldiers took the opportunity to kill the inside of Zhang Liao's team, and joined forces with their companions on the periphery to flank the enemy inside and out, and gradually pulled the battle into a melee.

At noon, Deputy Director Tao personally led the Chinese army to the battlefield, built a command platform on the gentle slope on the right side of the valley road, and saw Zhang Liao's team fighting in a group. The self-army was desperate and could not crush the enemy. Seeing that Boss Cao closed the gate and refused to let Zhang Liao's team return to the pass, he said that he would not give the army a chance to break through. Deputy Director Tao pondered for a long time, and then ordered: "Fire the cannon and send a signal." Let's do it together. ”

"Wait." Liu Ye hurriedly stopped. He asked, "My lord." Isn't it a shame? It was not easy for us to seize this opportunity to mix in so many internal responses, as long as we can force the Cao thief to switch, we will have the opportunity to take Hangu Pass. Give the order now, and this opportunity will be missed. ”

"Cao Thief's will is very human, he will not open the gate at the risk of sacrificing the main army because of these thousands of troops outside the gate." Deputy Director Tao said gloomily: "Besides, this battlefield is too narrow, our forces cannot be fully deployed, if we want to completely annihilate these thousands of Cao thieves who are fighting trapped beasts, we have to jump out a few teeth." ”

"That's true." Liu Ye suggested: "But you might as well wait, it's just noon, and we still have time." ”

Deputy Director Tao hesitated, but nodded and said, "Okay, don't light the cannon signal for the time being, let Wei Yan's team withdraw, and let Zhong Kang lead the new force to rush." ”

The order was conveyed that Xu Chu led 3,000 troops to join the battlefield and exchange for Wei Yan's team, which had been fighting for more than three hours, but the battlefield outside Hangu Pass was too narrow, and Xu Chu's team and Wei Yan's team were inconvenient to move when they rotated positions, so it took more than a quarter of an hour for the Xuzhou army to change the defense in place, and at the same time, it also lost the charge advantage of the new army, and could only storm the team that surrounded Zhang Liao at the beginning, and could not immediately break Zhang Liao's team away.

Although losing the charge advantage, but the new force in front of the enemy's tired soldiers still has an absolute physical advantage, Xu Chu, who is good at fighting hard battles, is unstoppable in front of the Cao army, a shot and killed more than ten enemies, and the direct killing of Zhang Liao's team is frightened, have retreated, Xu Chu brought the new force also took the opportunity to press, desperately squeezing the position of Zhang Liao's army, Zhang Liao's team was forced to shrink continuously, and the position of the condensed group was like a snowball in the sun, getting smaller and smaller.

Seeing this scene, the civil and military officials of the Cao army on the wall were so anxious that they were like smoke in their throats, and the civil and military officials begged Cao Boss to open the gate and let Zhang Liao's team withdraw to the pass to protect the already small number of troops. But Boss Cao's face turned pale, and he coughed for a while and said: "I can only let Zhang Liao fight to the death, I can't risk opening the door, I must be responsible for the 20,000 troops in Guancheng." ”

"But if Tao Ying's traitors let his superior forces take turns to fight, and the wheel battle consumes the physical strength of Zhang Wenyuan's team, then Wenyuan's army is in danger of being wiped out." Zhang He said.

"This open area outside Hangu Pass is not large, the pottery thief team is inconvenient to rotate, and Zhang Liao's team has no way to retreat, so it is not so easy to be annihilated by the enemy." Boss Cao replied coldly.

In this way, you attacked and defended for more than an hour, seeing that Zhang Liao's team still did not see Boss Cao open the gate despite the heavy casualties despite the fact that Zhang Liao's team resisted the impact of the self-army with flesh and blood, and estimated that there was not much left of the self-army mixed into Zhang Liao's team, Deputy Director Tao still reluctantly ordered: "Cao Thief's bet has won, let's fire the cannon, we have no chance to enter Hangu Pass today." ”

Seeing that Zhang Liao's team has suffered more than half of the casualties, Cao Boss is still black-hearted and refuses to open the gate to let his team enter the customs, Liu Ye no longer objects to Deputy Director Tao giving up the opportunity to break through, Ma Zhong lit the pine cannon according to the order, the cannon sounded like thunder, and the Xuzhou soldiers hiding in Zhang Liao's team no longer hid after getting the signal, and immediately seized the opportunity to make chaos from the inside, wielding knives and guns to kill Cao soldiers, Zhang Liao's team was immediately chaotic, Xu Chu and Ma Yan and others will take the opportunity to attack, while receiving their own companions to fight out of the encirclement, While impacting the internal chaos of Zhang Liao's team.

Hearing the sound of pine cannons that only the Xuzhou army has, and seeing the chaos within his own team, Boss Cao immediately guessed that Deputy Director Tao had given up the opportunity to take the opportunity to capture Hangu Pass, carefully observed the situation of his own team for a while, and saw that those soldiers who deliberately made chaos and obvious traces of their own soldiers were rushing out to kill, Boss Cao finally ordered to Dian Wei: "Junming, you lead an army down, open the gate, let our army go back to the pass, and then give me a desperate guard of the city gate." Remember, all soldiers entering the customs must immediately lay down their arms, assemble and wait for orders, and those who disobey the order will be immediately beheaded. ”

Dian Wei took the order and left, and Cao Boss ordered the soldiers to put down their weapons and accept the order to screen immediately after shouting at the gate, and explain the preparation of the jack gate inside the wall of Liguan, and then ordered to open the gate and let his own team, which had already suffered heavy casualties, return to the pass to save their lives. As a result, this did not let many Cao soldiers escape back to the pass, because as soon as the gate was opened, the frightened Cao soldiers immediately rushed back to the pass, and there were many dead people between the trampling of each other, and the dead bodies were piled up all over the gate, and at the same time, the Xuzhou army also took the opportunity to attack with all its might, and rushed to the front of the gate with the momentum of the defeat of the Cao army, trying to take the opportunity to break through the Hangu Pass, and the chaos before the gate was closed, and the morale of the Cao army team was innumerable.

Seeing with his own eyes the Xuzhou army wrapped in his own defeated soldiers into the gate, Cao Boss sighed, and had to order to immediately put down the jack gate, and after the jack iron gate fell to the ground, although the Xuzhou army did not have the opportunity to take the opportunity to kill the pass, the more than 2,000 Cao army teams that were blocked outside the pass also completely had no way to retreat, for a time the Cao army team outside the Hangu Pass suddenly cried and screamed, Cao Boss was also in tears, and ordered: "Throw as many ropes as possible, our soldiers, even if you can save one more person back." ”

After holding on to the wall, Boss Cao also had such a thought, and said secretly: "Judging from the arrangement of the pottery thief, he has long concluded that I am cheating to death, and where did he find out that I was cheating to death?" Where am I showing a flaw? (To be continued......)