Wang Xuanying, who was educated by his strong father to lack assertiveness, also helped Chen Fuliang a lot, and when the Sui army of the Eastern Expedition was actually quite tired, Chen Zhiluo and Guo Shizhu and other generals suggested several times that Wang Xuanying should attack appropriately, and the purpose was not to seek any victory, as long as a small number of troops were used to frequently harass the Sui army of the Eastern Expedition, and did not give the Sui army of the Eastern Expedition the opportunity to calmly prepare to attack the Tiger Pass. However, Wang Xuanying remembered his father Wang Shichong's order to stick to no battle, and every time he categorically refused, watching the Sui army of the Eastern Expedition quickly prepare for the siege.

In this way, the time of two nights and two days passed quickly, and in the evening of the third day, in the case that the Sui army of the Eastern Expedition had not launched a frontal attack, Yang Gongqing, a general of the Zheng army with rich experience on the battlefield, also paid more and more attention to the night defense, and specially held a military meeting to arrange to strengthen the night duty force, and divided the troops in his hands into three teams, led by himself and Wang Xingben and Pei Xiaoda respectively, each team took turns to be on duty at night, and asked Pei Xiaoda, the general of the Zheng army who was on duty at night, to live in the West Gate Tower of the Tiger Prison Pass, and urged the soldiers to be on duty at night. It is strictly forbidden for any night guard to sleep and nap at night.

This arrangement will of course have a significant impact on the physical strength of the defenders, Pei Xiaoda and Zhang Gongjin and other Zheng army generals also questioned Yang Gongqing, worried that it would be too tiring for the soldiers, and it would be unfavorable for the Sui army to launch a frontal attack on the defending city in the Eastern Expedition, Yang Gongqing told them bluntly, "Our army definitely does not need to be afraid of the frontal attack of the thief army, although there are less than 13,000 defenders in the Tiger Prison Pass, but the length of the wall from north to south is only four miles, even if only 2,000 troops are arranged on the wall, it is enough to block the frontal attack of the thief army. The thieves will not be given any chance to break through the city quickly! ”

"Only night battles are what we need to worry about the most." Yang Gongqing pointed out: "In the dark night, the vision is not clear, the weather is a little bad, and it is difficult for us to see how many enemies there are at the foot of the city wall, and it is the time when the enemy is surprisingly victorious." At the same time, the thief army is good at night fighting, Xin'an and Luoyang Outer City are both broken by Chen Thief Army at night, so this time the thief army is more likely to attack at night than during the day! If we don't strengthen our night defenses, once the thief army suddenly kills, the slightest surprise will be unimaginable! ”

Emphasizing that the Sui army of the Eastern Expedition was most likely to attack Guancheng at night, Yang Gongqing also instructed: "Remember, sentries must be arranged behind the sheep and horse walls under the city, and use ropes to go down to the city every half an hour to check the situation of the sentries, so as not to give the enemy any situation to touch the city at night." There should be more torches at the winch of the drawbridge, and no one is allowed to approach the winch at will. ”

Pei Xiaoda and his deputy Zhang Gongjin reluctantly agreed, but Yang Gongqing still refused to rest assured, and ordered the city gate officials of the east and west gates to hand over the keys and keep them by themselves, and then announced the dissolution of the meeting, and let the generals under his command go down to organize the army to rest and watch the night. At the end, Yang Gongqing discussed with Wang Xingben and decided to take the three and a half shifts as the boundary, respectively on duty in the first half of the night and the second half of the night, to inspect the situation of the army on night at any time, and to prevent the army on duty from being unsupervised and slack.

Originally, out of respect for Wang Xingben's identity, Yang Gongqing suggested that Wang Xingben be on duty in the first half of the night when it was relatively easy, and Wang Xingben also planned to agree, but Shen Yue, a soldier who was very trusted by Yang and Wang, interjected and said: "His Royal Highness King Jing, let General Yang stay in the middle of the night, you can rest assured after the first half of the night, so it is easier for General Yang, he is our main general, and we have to count on him to take the lead during the day." How about the lower official accompany His Royal Highness to be on duty in the second half of the night? ”

On duty, you have to get up in the middle of the night to affect your rest, of course, Wang Xingben is a little reluctant to do such a hard job, but considering that the battle of Tiger Prison Pass does have to count on the experienced Yang Gongqing to take the lead, Wang Xingben still nodded and agreed to this suggestion, and Yang Gongqing, who has indeed worked hard in the past few days, knew that this was a piece of kindness from Wang Xingben and Shen Yue, so he did not insist, and also nodded and accepted this suggestion.

The hard night of duty began, when most of the soldiers and civilians of the Tiger Prison Pass were sleeping sweetly, one-third of the Zheng soldiers had to fight hard against the sleepy insects, while forcibly fighting against the sneak attack from the darkness, at the beginning of the Zheng army soldiers were able to support it, but with the deepening of the night and the passage of time, the Zheng soldiers on duty at night inevitably appeared tired and napped, many soldiers began to secretly lean on the arrow stacks to nap, and the sentry posts on duty behind the sheep and horse walls under the city were due to lack of supervision. There are even soldiers who sit and lie behind the wall and fall asleep.

It's okay if such a lazy soldier is just caught by Pei Xiaoda and Zhang Gongjin and others, at most he will be scolded and slapped, but he will be caught by Yang Gongqing! But it was a big bad luck, the twenty military sticks immediately went on the body, not to mention, and even no one pleaded for mercy, and there were more than a dozen unlucky people who were beaten by such military sticks in less than three watches, and an unlucky person who sat and slept in the city couldn't even wake up because he couldn't even scream, and was doubled with a military stick, and the forty military sticks were beaten so that the flesh and blood were blurred, and he could only be carried back to the room to rest on his stomach.

Yang Gongqing is obviously a waste of strength to do this, in fact, until the middle of the third watch, the city did not find the shadow of half of the Sui soldiers, but Wang Xingben and Shen Yue yawned and came to Yang Gongqing to exchange night tasks, Yang Gongqing, who was already very tired, repeatedly told Wang Xingben to be careful before returning to the room to rest, but Yang Gongqing just left on the front foot, Wang Xingben immediately sat down and pulled a sheet to cover his body, and instructed Shen Yue: "Shen Sibing, call me at the beginning of the fourth watch, and we will go to patrol the city together." ”

Shen Yue respectfully agreed, and asked the congren to bring a food box, took out two bowls of chicken soup from the food box, held one of the bowls in front of Wang Xingben and said with a smile: "Your Highness, eat the supper and then go to sleep, the lower official knows that the night is hard, so he specially prepared two bowls of ginseng chicken soup first, you use one bowl first?" ”

Wang Xingben, who was not so careful as Shen Yue, was a little hungry when he got up in the middle of the night, and he was not polite when he smelled the fragrance of chicken soup, and he ate meat and drank soup when he lifted the chopsticks, during which Wang Xingben also found that the chicken soup was a little bitter, but it was also the smell of ginseng, and he didn't do anything he thought, he directly ate a bowl of chicken soup with meat and soup, and then fell asleep on the quilt next to the desk, but Shen Yue ate very slowly, and did not put down the chopsticks until he confirmed that Wang Xingben was completely asleep, and his face was full of hideous smiles.

After laughing evilly, Shen Yue hurriedly got up and went out, first ordered Wang Xingben's personal soldiers not to enter the room to disturb, and then under the pretext of going to the city on behalf of Wang Xingben to inspect, he left the headquarters with his entourage, and really took a dozen entourages to the city wall of the West Gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, and carefully inspected the situation in the city - but no one paid attention to the fact that three of Shen Yue's entourage played red lanterns, and several times stretched out three red lanterns out of the city wall at the same time, shining under the city to check the situation of the sentry behind the sheep and horse wall.

It's a pity that tonight is a cloudy day, the night is too dark, and it is difficult to see the situation under the city clearly, so our conscientious and responsible Shen Sibing took more than a dozen followers down to the gate and came to the city gate, pretending to go out of the city to check the situation of the sentry posts outside the city on the order of Wang Xingben. As a result, the city gate official replied with a wry smile: "Shen Sibing, it's not that he refuses to obey orders, it's that General Yang has already taken the key away, and the lower officials can't open the city?" ”

"His Royal Highness King Jing still doesn't know that you don't have a key?" Shen Yue smiled and took out a city gate key that had been secretly matched in advance from his arms, and said with a smile while picking the lock by himself: "When General Yang and His Royal Highness King Jing exchanged duties, they handed over the key to His Highness, and His Highness handed it over to me, but no one is allowed to touch this key except for the official. ”

Saying that, Shen Yue had already opened the door lock, and also took off the door lock with his own hands, the city gate official believed it, and hurriedly commanded the gate soldiers to remove the heavy door latch, and opened a city gate to let Shen Yue go out of the city to check the sentry, but Shen Yue only took the three entourages with red lanterns out of the city, and while pretending to be a check, he deliberately raised the red lantern over the chest-high sheep and horse wall several times.

As a result, the accident that should have happened naturally happened, under the cover of night, a trench bridge car suddenly appeared on the edge of the moat, forty or fifty sneaky black shadows quickly went into the water, a small number of black shadows helped the trench bridge car to the other side of the moat, a large number of black shadows went straight across the river, climbed the river bank to climb the antlers, and the result was that when these sneaky black shadows sneaked over the antlers of the horse rejection, the Zheng Jun sentry behind the sheep and horse wall saw their shadows, and hurriedly shouted to warn, "Enemy attack!" Enemy attack! Hit the gong! ”

"There's an enemy attack! Shen Sibing, come back quickly! ”

At the same time as the gong sounded the alarm, the kind-hearted city gate official also hurriedly shouted to greet Shen Yue to hurry back to the city, but Shen Yue really rushed back to the gate with a knife, and the city gate official hurriedly ordered the gate soldiers to close the door and latch, but the knife in Shen Yue's hand flashed, cutting the neck of the kind-hearted city gate official in half, and fell to the door with a vague throat and blood. At the same time, more than a dozen entourages led by Shen Jian also immediately showed their weapons, and killed the unprepared gate soldiers with knives in their hands, and at the same time quickly opened the two city gates, and the city gates were wide open, and the sneaky black shadows before also rushed to the door one after another, and joined forces with Shen Yue and others to control the city gate.

At this time, the city of Tiger Prison Pass was already noisy with gongs and drums, waking up countless Zheng soldiers who were lazy and napping, and also woke up the Zheng army reserves who were waiting in the barracks in the city, Pei Xiaoda, who lived in the city, immediately commanded the army to meet the battle, and Zhang Gongjin immediately ordered the reserves to assemble immediately. However, Zheng Jun's movements were fast, and the more well-prepared Sui soldiers moved faster, and the first trench bridge car had just been erected, and immediately Sui saber axes and axes rushed up to chop the antlers and open the way forward, and at the same time, more trench bridges rushed to the edge of the moat and built more bridges across the river.

When the Zheng army on the city panicked and threw the first wave of arrows to the city, at least six trench bridge cars have set up temporary bridges in the moat, a large number of Sui soldiers held shields to charge across the river, crazy chopping antlers to block horses to open the road, and the first trench bridge car that position, the Sui soldiers have already cut a half-zhang wide opening, the Sui soldiers holding shields quickly charged across the river, flew over the sheep and horse wall, and rushed to the city gate to protect the road into the city. Pei Xiaoda howled and urged the soldiers to desperately release arrows to suppress, but they still couldn't stop the advance of the Sui soldiers who were racing against time.

When Zhang Gongjin rushed to the city with more than 1,000 Zheng army reserves under his command, and saw the city gate that had been opened, Zhang Gongjin's face was immediately pale as paper, and at the same time, he didn't even have time to give an order, so he roared and waved his knife and rushed directly into the city gate. However, it is a pity that although Zhang Gongjin, who left his name in Lingyan Pavilion, is known for his infinite strength, but this time he was extremely unlucky to meet Wang Fubao, who is the best at fighting assault warfare under Chen Fuliang, and the front army immediately launched a counter-charge to prevent Zhang Gongjin from approaching the city gate, and Zhang Gongjin fought fiercely in the middle of the Yongdao, and then Wang Fubao also personally led the army into the door, so although Zhang Gongjin was extremely brave and killed several Sui soldiers in a row to gain a certain advantage, and then met Wang Fubao personally wielded a knife and fought with him, Zhang Gongjin's forward steps also immediately stopped, The fierce battle with Wang Fubao for a long time was not a winner, and at the same time, the oil soldiers under Wang Fubao also kept shouting and killing from both sides, and constantly threw powder bottles to blow up the Zheng soldiers, reducing the pressure of the charge, and firmly controlling the small half of the city gate.

The explosions in the city gate and the road continued, and the city wall was also shouting to kill the sky, and the Zheng soldiers who were well prepared desperately pulled their bows and arrows, and kept throwing feather arrows to the city, but the Zheng army was well prepared, and the Sui army was more prepared, knowing that there was no such shop in this village, the Sui soldiers were one after another, and they kept charging forward, dredged the way forward while building bridges, and at the same time, the dark night also greatly limited the power of the bows and arrows of the Zheng army defenders, and the hit rate of the feather arrows shot blindly was extremely low, and they could not stop the Sui soldiers from charging at all. Many sections of the rejecting horse antlers were destroyed one after another, and the Sui army soldiers crossed the river in an endless stream, constantly strengthening the strength of the city gate.

Zheng Jun actually still has a chance, limited by the terrain and fortifications, the Sui army soldiers can not effectively put a large number of troops on the other side of the moat, at the same time, Zhang Gongjin's army also controls most of the city gate Yongdao, the total strength of nearly 13,000 Tiger Pass defenders as long as they launch a counterattack in time, there is still a great hope to drive the Sui army out of the city again to keep the Tiger Pass. But what no one of the Zheng soldiers expected was that even Shen Yue, the soldier of the Zheng Army who shamelessly sacrificed the door, didn't know in advance that at this time, there was a sudden fire in the Tiger Prison Pass City, and the Zheng Army soldiers who belonged to the general Zhang Sheng set fire everywhere while shouting slogans to kill at the city gate, "The city is broken!" Run! Brethren, the city is broken! Run! ”

Hearing the shout that the city has been broken, the Zheng army soldiers are of course demoralized, and the more vicious is still behind, Zhang Sheng and his subordinates rushed to the vicinity of the city gate, not only did not hesitate to wave the knife to the friendly troops in the door, but also kept shouting the slogan of causing chaos to the enemy, "The thief army has entered the city, kill the thief!" Don't fight, we're our own people! I'm my own! ”

Zhang Sheng's subordinates of his own people are tied with white cloth on their left arms to screen the enemy and me, but Zhang Gongjin, who is not his own people, is difficult to distinguish between the enemy and me, and he is either hacked to death and stabbed by his own people, or forced to wield a knife to kill the real people, the rear army is in chaos, and the front army is also quickly affected, including Zhang Gongjin has to take the time to look back to check the situation in the city, and Wang Fubaojun took the opportunity to rush and fight, quickly open up the space, and cover more rear troops to enter the safe city gate.

Pei Xiaoda and Zhang Gongjin are still good, the most panicked is Yang Gongqing and the main force of the Tiger Prison Pass defenders, the sleeping soldiers hurriedly got up and dressed in armor and made a mess, needless to say, Yang Gongqing also rushed out of the door to check the situation before he even had time to put on his shoes, when he heard the sound of killing and explosions at the city gate, Yang Gongqing complained bitterly, and had to quickly send people to contact generals at all levels, gather the main force to launch a counterattack - although Yang Gongqing also knew very well in his heart that it was difficult for him to do this. It is also absolutely impossible for the main army to engage in a counterattack in a moment.

Even more flustered was Wang Xingben's personal soldiers, who rushed into the door and couldn't wake up Wang Xingben no matter how much they shouted and shook, and finally used a bucket full of water to wake up Wang Xingben, who was sleeping like a dead pig, but even if he woke up, Wang Xingben was still dizzy, "What's wrong?" Why is it raining so hard in the sky? ”

At this time, the main force of the Sui army that opened a number of roads has launched the ant siege of the city, and Shi Wanbao, a newcomer to the Sui army who volunteered to take on this difficult task, in order to please the new master Chen Fuliang, was the first to step on the ladder and climb up, dozens of flying ladders climbed on the city wall one after another, and the soldiers of the Sui army who bit the weapon used their hands and feet together, and climbed quickly against the rain arrow stone, even if the companion above fell down the ladder with arrows, the Sui soldiers behind still stepped on the bloody ladder and continued to climb, and there were many Sui soldiers who climbed the wall with bare hands, It was also by virtue of this indomitable courage that in the first wave of ants alone attacking the city, no less than twenty Sui warriors took the lead in rushing to the city.

At the same time as the fierce battle at the head of the city, Zhang Gongjin's army finally couldn't stop Wang Fubao and Zhang Shengjun's front and back attacks, the soldiers were scattered, Zhang Gongjin, who was injured in many places, was unable to return to the sky, and couldn't stop the Sui soldiers who came one after another, so he had to turn around and flee into the depths of the city. Then Wang Fubao, who was familiar with this situation, did not stop, and led his soldiers to storm the steps of the city, and responded to Shi Wanbao's ant army to kill the city.

Although Yang Gongqing was also very able to make a quick decision and ordered his generals to rush to the West Gate for reinforcements as long as they assembled into an army without asking for orders, it was too late to do so, and when the first main army rushed to the vicinity of the West Gate, the Sui soldiers had already occupied a considerable space position in the West Gate. The main force of the Zheng army, which refused to give up, launched a charge, in a vain attempt to recapture the city gate, the soldiers of the Sui army gritted their teeth and hardened their heads, and the city and the city and outside the city were shouting to kill the sky, the torches were chaotic, the heads were intertwined like hemp, and the sky was dark, and the stars and moon were dark.

It was only when Wang Fubaojun successfully seized the winch and smashed the winch to make the drawbridge fall to the ground that the third wave of Sui troops led by Luo Shixin was able to directly enter the city, and at the same time, after seeing Luo Shixin's banner entering the city from a distance, Chen Fuliang's heart that had been hanging in his throat was put back into his stomach, knowing that the self-army had won this battle and it was only a matter of time before he captured the Tiger Prison Pass. However, after letting go of this heart a little, Chen Fuliang hurriedly turned to Feng Deyi next to him and asked, "How is it?" What's going on in the west of Luokoukura? ”

"Your Highness, rest assured, the news I just received, there was no movement on the Luokoucang side until half an hour ago." Feng Deyi replied with a smile.

"It's good that there's no movement." Chen Fuliang breathed a sigh of relief again, and said with a smile: "The speed of response is even slower than this king hopes, even if he has already reacted at this time, it will be too late." ”

After saying it proudly, Chen Fuliang immediately sent someone to Yin Kaishan and Bao ** to give an order, telling them that the main force had successfully captured the West Gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, so that they could meet the reinforcements of Luokoucang with peace of mind, and they did not have to worry about the situation on the side of the main force.

In the mouth of Chen Fuliang's crow, in fact, it was only when the suspension bridge at the west gate of the Tiger Prison Pass landed, and Luokoucang received the news of the emergency of the Tiger Prison Pass, and Wang Xuanying was shocked Although he immediately sent Chen Zhiluo to lead the cavalry east to reinforce the Tiger Prison Pass, it was still much too late. Chen Zhiluo rushed eastward with 4,000 cavalry and just walked out of ten miles, and was stopped by the Sui infantry led by Yin Kaishan in a relatively narrow place on the road.

In the twilight, the white robe of the newspaper ** who poured out of the nest was fluttering, and suddenly killed from the southeast direction of the Yin Kaishan army, stopping Chen Zhiluo head-on, and Chen Zhiluo, who had heard the **** name for a long time, fought hard, but his corporals and soldiers in combat effectiveness had long been unable to compare with the cavalry of the Xiaoguo Army back then, and they were all light cavalry, but they were not the opponents of the ** heavy cavalry at all in close combat - the disparity in defense was too far, and then Yin Kaishan also led the infantry to kill from the flank, and the cavalry of the Zheng army was attacked by the enemy, and the mobility could not be played. The fierce battle was just dawn and he couldn't parry, and was forced to flee west to return to Luokoucang, and reported ** to pursue with all his might, and only stared at Chen Zhiluo's general flag in the joint attack, and reported that the main general Guo Feng beheaded Chen Zhiluo under the horse on the battlefield, and the Zheng cavalry was defeated, and there were many casualties and surrenders, and only half of the cavalry fled back to Luokoucang in embarrassment.

Receiving the breath of Chen Zhiluo's defeat and death, Wang Xuanying was paralyzed on the ground and was picked up, and yelled and shouted to send troops to rescue the Tiger Prison Pass, after being stopped by Guo Shizhu and others, Wang Xuanying couldn't help but cry, "What should I do?" What should I do? The Tiger Prison is lost, how can I explain it to my father? How can Dou Jiande's reinforcements arrive at Luoyang City to relieve the siege for his father? ”

Or at the same time when Wang Xuanying was crying, several counterattacks failed to take back the west city wall, and really couldn't withstand the tide of attacks of the Sui army, Yang Gongqing was forced to helpless, but also had to open the east gate to lead the defeated army to flee to Niuzhukou, the Sui army took the opportunity to chase and kill, and made a large number of gains under the east gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, captured many Zheng army generals and soldiers, including Zhang Gongjin, and successfully took the whole city of Tiger Prison Pass before noon.

For the first time, he relied on force to take the Tiger Prison Pass, but Chen Fuliang did not have much joy, and after entering the city, he directly passed through the streets of the city full of blood corpses, climbed the east gate wall of the Tiger Prison Pass, and stood on the east gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, which also had many bloodstained corpses, looking at the north, full of emotion, and muttered in his mouth, "Dou Jiande, come on, the Tiger Prison Pass and Linqing Pass are in my hands, you just bring your soldiers of the whole country, and I am not afraid." You'd better bring all your soldiers with you, this chaotic era at the end of the Sui Dynasty is too cruel, and it has lasted too long, it's time to end it, you come and end this cruel chaotic era with me. ”