Li Jiancheng's army did not drive to Tumen Pass, his army was halfway through the well and learned that the grain camp was burned by fire, Li Jiancheng was shocked, he didn't care about entering Tumen Pass in the east, and immediately returned to the west of the old pass, he had enough of the suffering of lack of food, and he must not fall and fight again on food.

Although in the end the Tang army did not enter the predicament because of food, but still had to accept the defeat, when Li Jiancheng heard that the Tang army of the Eastern Expedition was annihilated, and the news of Li Shuliang's death came, he and Qu Tutong collected their troops and returned to Taiyuan, which meant the complete failure of the Eastern Crusade.

Although the Tang army has withdrawn westward, according to common sense, the following will enter the peace link, but this is just the Tang army's wishful thinking to make peace, and Zhang Xuan has no intention of stopping there.

On the second day after Luo Shixin seized Tumen Pass, Zhang Xuan personally led 20,000 troops to advance along Jingcheng to Bingzhou, and at the same time, Wei Chigong also led 10,000 troops to enter Bingzhou from Fukou Cheng, and the soldiers pointed directly at Huguan, the western exit of Fukou.

Jing Cheng is more than 150 miles long, there are three important passes in the middle, the pass located in Hebei is Tumen Pass, the other two passes are located in the territory of Bingzhou, one is called Wei Ze Pass, one is called Xi Gu Pass, these two passes are currently controlled by the Tang Army, among which Wei Ze Pass is the natural danger of Jing Cheng, seize Wei Ze Pass, and it is difficult to hold the West Gu Pass behind it.

Li Jiancheng listened to Qu Tutong's suggestion, sent 2,000 soldiers to guard the Weize Pass, and also sent 1,000 soldiers to guard the Xigu Pass, Zhang Xuan led the army to advance into the state, the first dangerous pass encountered was the Weize Pass, his army only captured the Weize Pass, there was no hope of entering the state.

Reed Ze Pass is the Niangzi Pass of later generations, one side is the cliff abyss, the other side is the cliff, the mountain road is only two zhang wide, easy to defend and difficult to attack, extremely dangerous. Weize Pass is actually composed of three passes, there is a city wall connection between the three passes, stretching for about three miles, because Weize Pass is mainly aimed at the enemy army killed from the north direction of Hebei, so a military city was built along the mountain in the west of the pass, and the camp of two thousand Tang troops was set up in the military city.

The general guarding the Reed Ze Pass is called Li Shicai. A native of Changping County, about 30 years old, he was originally also a general of Wagang, belonging to Li Jiancheng's faction, and later followed Li Jiancheng back to the state, and was named Huya Lang General and Lingchuan County Marquis by Li Yuan.

At night, two thousand Tang troops were waiting in the pass, and Li Shicai looked very nervously at the fire dragon that stretched for more than ten miles in the well, that is, the Sui soldiers with torches in their hands. It is estimated that there are as many as 20,000 or 30,000 people, and there are only 2,000 Tang Army soldiers on the pass.

General Luo Shixin led 3,000 vanguard troops to reach 200 steps away from the city, just to get out of the crossbow arrows, Luo Shixin rode on a horse, looking at the very dangerous pass from afar, his face became very solemn. Although he fought bravely, he was not a reckless man. He knew that his 3,000 could not capture this dangerous pass, and even if the losses were heavy, the Xiongguan still stood, which made Luo Shixin hesitate for a while.

At this moment, a soldier said in the back: "The big marshal is here!" ”

The army dodged out of the way, only to see a group of cavalry surrounding Jang Xuan walking this way. Luo Shixin hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "See the big handsome!" ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, looked at Wei Zeguan, and after looking at it for a while, Zhang Xuan asked Luo Shixin again. "Will General Luo be able to take this pass before dawn?"

Luo Shixin gritted his teeth and said: "I must win the humble position!" ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "I don't think you can take it." ”

Luo Shixin's face turned red, but the words had already been spoken, so he had to bite the bullet and say: "Maybe the loss will be greater, but the lowly post will definitely be won, and the lowly post is willing to sign a military order!" ”

Zhang Xuan said lightly: "Those who are handsome must know how to advance and retreat, this is the reason why you can only be a general and not a handsome, why I don't allow you to enter the well, it is also because of this." ”

After speaking, Zhang Xuan turned the horse's head and left, Luo Shixin suddenly woke up, the handsome man was afraid that he would attack recklessly, he didn't understand, he quickly turned over and dismounted, caught up and said: "Dashuai, the last general knows his mistake!" ”

Zhang Xuan stopped his horse, glanced back at him, and said with a smile: "Since you know your mistake, let's make a lively attack all night!" Before dawn, the pass will naturally belong to you. ”

Zhang Xuan urged the horse to leave, leaving a confused Luo Shixin, although he didn't understand the deep meaning of the boss's words, he still shouted: "Give me the drum, prepare to attack Weize Pass!" ”

The war drums of the Sui army's siege rumbled

In the night, an army of about 300 people secretly appeared at the bend of the mountain road about two hundred steps west of Weize Pass, this army was the scout elite led by Shen Guang, they had been in the well for five days, since the burning of the grain camp, they had no action, most of the time hidden in the mountains, waiting for the next attack.

It is precisely for this reason that Li Jiancheng did not expect that such a fierce army would be hiding in Jingcheng.

Shen Guang hid behind a boulder and observed the movement of Guancheng, behind him, three hundred soldiers squatted on the ground against the cliff, all of them were very quiet, not even coughing.

Although the west side of Weize Pass is easier to attack than the east side, the city wall is also tall and the road is narrow, but because the west side is the military city wall, there are not many patrol soldiers, only more than 100 people, and most of the Tang soldiers are guarding the east city.

Shen Guang's gaze finally fell on the highest part of the city wall, there was a section of about twenty zhang that was not guarded by soldiers, it should be the outer wall of the barracks, and soldiers could not walk on the wall.

But Shen Guang was not in a hurry to act, he was still waiting for the opportunity, from the change of the clouds in the sky and the color of the mountain, he knew that the Qingzhou army had been killed, and the fire reflected the red sky, so the commander would definitely arrange the attacking army to create an opportunity for himself.

At this time, the east suddenly drummed loudly, shouting and killing shook the sky, it seemed that the Sui army began to attack, and the hundred soldiers who were originally patrolling in Xicheng were attracted by the sound of attack, and they all turned around to look east, and the opportunity finally came.

Shen Guang waved his hand, and three hundred soldiers accelerated forward, and after a hundred steps, they climbed the mountain rock in a gap, and the three hundred people struggled to climb the mountain.

At this time, another patrol soldier came back at the head of the city and continued to monitor the movement on the mountain road, but Shen Guang led the scout soldiers up the mountain, and the mountain was overgrown with shrubs and weeds, and they climbed very slowly towards the top of the mountain under the cover of shrubs and weeds.

However, the Sui army's offensive momentum in the eastern Guancheng did disrupt the patrol posts on the western wall, especially the jingling of crossbow arrows made the patrol soldiers have to hide behind the wall and cannot continue to monitor the outside of the city, which gave Shen Guang and them a chance.

After a short time, the three hundred soldiers led by Shen Guang arrived at the highest part of the city wall, which was pitch black, and there were no patrol soldiers on the high wall about 20 zhang long.

The five Sui scouts threw their hooks and claws at the same time, firmly fixed the rope at the head of the city, and the soldiers began to climb up quickly, and there was really no wall on it, just a one-foot-thick high wall, and there were nearly two hundred tents in the high wall, one next to the other, which was the camp of the Tang army defending the city.

Although the big tent was dense, Shen Guang couldn't see a single Tang soldier, all the soldiers went to the east of the city to participate in the defense, so that there was a loophole in the southwest corner of the reed pass, Shen Guan waved his hand, everyone slid down the high wall along the rope, hid in the big tent, and waited until the three hundred soldiers entered the city, Shen Guang led them to the city gate to kill.

Just about fifty paces away from the city gate, a patrol Tang army finally spotted this suspicious-looking team and shouted for the first brigade commander: "Stand, who is it?" ”

As soon as the words fell, a hundred crossbow arrows suddenly arrived, the patrol soldiers couldn't dodge, and they fell to the ground with arrows, for a while, the screams resounded through the city, and the alarm bell on the head of the city rang immediately, Shen Guang shouted, "Kill!" ”

Three hundred scouts drew their swords and rushed to the Yongdao, killing the city, and the hundreds of Tang troops rushing to the city fought fiercely, and the city of Weize Pass was in chaos.

Zhang Xuan was waiting for this moment, he saw the chaos in the city, and knew that Shen Guang had led the army to kill, and immediately ordered: "Go and inform General Luo quickly, so that he can immediately attack the city!" ”

The order quickly reached Luo Shixin, and Luo Shixin also saw the battle on the city, and Luo Shixin, who had been aggrieved for a long time, roared angrily, "Kill me with me!" ”

This time the Sui army no longer attacked falsely, 3,000 soldiers lined up in five teams on the narrow mountain road, raised their shields to the city wall to kill, five siege ladders slammed up the city wall, Luo Shixin held a shield in one hand, and climbed up with his big iron spear in the other, three hundred Sui army scouts on the city head had been killed in front of the battlements, they were extremely strong in combat, each of them could be one as five, and the Tang army was defeated and retreated, which effectively covered the siege of the Sui army.

Without the Tang Army soldiers to defend, Luo Shixin jumped onto the city and yelled, "Take your life!" ”

The big iron gun shook and killed Li Shicai, the main general of the Tang army, Li Shicai was too late to escape, and the road to the city had been blocked by the Sui army scouts, so he had to wave the big knife and slash at Luo Shixin, only to listen to 'dang! With a loud bang, the big knife was bounced off by the barrel of the gun, which shocked Li Shicai's arms numb, Luo Shixin sneered, but the spear did not slow down at all, the tip of the gun was like a white lightning, and a shot pierced Li Shicai's chest, and the tip of the gun leaked out from the back, Li Shicai screamed and was killed immediately.

Luo Shixin slammed his arms, lifted Li Shicai's body high, tore open his throat and roared: "Listen to the Tang soldiers in the city, if you don't surrender, this is what will happen to you." ”

The Tang soldiers in the city saw the tragic situation of the main general, they had no intention of fighting, hundreds of soldiers in the city opened the west gate and fled to the Jingcheng Mountain Road, and the rest of the people who could not escape knelt down and surrendered, the gate of Wei Ze Pass slowly opened, Zhang Xuan waved his sword, and the Sui army began to march in line to the pass.

In the afternoon of the next day, 20,000 Sui troops entered the last pass of Jingcheng, the West Ancient Pass, the West Ancient Pass was empty, and the 1,000 soldiers of the Tang Army abandoned the pass after learning the news that Zhang Xuan personally led the army to kill.

With the fall of Weize Pass and Xigu Pass, it means that the last two Xiongguan passes in Jingcheng have been conquered by the Sui army, and it also means that the strategic artery of Jingcheng has completely fallen, and the gate of Bingzhou is open to the Sui army. (To be continued.) )