"Damn! These township soldiers are also called township soldiers? The iron armor and iron helmets on their bodies, and the horizontal swords and crossbows in their hands, can also be equipped by the township soldiers? If the township soldiers in the world are like these cattle, then simply don't set up the Sixteen Guard Mansions, and directly ask the township soldiers to fight! ”

The time is not as good as the location, and the location is not as good as the people. The city of three miles, the Guo of seven miles, the ring and attack it without victory. If the husband attacks it, there will be those who have the right time, but the one who does not win is not as good as the location. The city is not high, the pool is not deep, the military revolution is not strong, and the rice millet is not much.

The first insurance in Kinai! Four towns throat! One hundred and two levels! These words are specially designed for Tongguan, attacking such a Xiongguan through the ages is a very painful thing, but what is more painful is that now guarding this Xiongguan is still a group of perverted animals, the equipment is better than the ordinary regular army, and all of them are strong and experienced, with skillful advance and retreat in an orderly manner, although the martial arts used in Weifu are not very exquisite, but very practical and fast, extremely suitable for the battlefield of life and death with swords and blood, no matter how good the fierce generals are, they can't beat this group of cattle to besiege, plus the generals command effectively, The tactics are properly applied, not to mention that there are only 10,000 rebels in Wang Changhuan's hands, even if there are 100,000 male soldiers, he may not be able to take Tongguan!

At night, the rebel soldiers lined up in a neat queue, shouting with torches and repeatedly attacking the north and south cities of Tongguan again and again, the momentum is not ferocious, the courage is not sufficient, and the fighting spirit is not firm, but every vanguard of the rebels must first be densely covered by strong bows and crossbows, and then be hit head-on by falling lime bottles, and it is not easy to put the flying ladder on the wall, and it is possible to be knocked over by the wood at any time. was cut off by a knife and axe, his head was cut off, and he was repeatedly impacted more than ten times, and no rebel soldier was able to rush to the wall.

Although Wang Changhuan and Sun Hua and other rebel generals are still hoarsely encouraging the soldiers to charge bravely, the rebel soldiers' shouts are getting smaller and smaller, and the pace of the charge is getting slower and slower, which is almost equal to Li Yuan's rebels' signature ladder siege and climbing siege tactics, and finally disappears - the rebel soldiers are not stupid, the enemies on the wall are too powerful, and then biting their weapons and climbing the wall with empty hands is no longer called courage, It's called death.

Half of the third watch has passed, the rebel soldiers are still blocked at the foot of the wall, and they can no longer advance a foot and a half, the tired and hungry rebel soldiers can't stand it, and Sun Hua, who has newly joined Li Yuan's rebels, finally can't bear it anymore, and finds the chief general appointed by Li Yuan, Wang Changhe, and said: "Wang Tongjun, it's useless to fight like this, Tongguan is already difficult to fight, and the officers and soldiers guarding the pass are elite and strong soldiers. ”

"But the general has explained that he wants us to take Tongguan at any cost!" Wang Changharmonic's voice was a little hoarse when he replied, "If we can't take Tongguan, we will be too passive on the battlefield in Guanzhong." ”

"The general has given this explanation, but now even if we wipe out all the troops, it is impossible to take Tongguan, what can we do?" Sun Hua said angrily: "Besides, I didn't say that I won't Tongguan anymore, I just temporarily retreated and rested, and came up with another way to attack the city again." ”

Wang Changhuan hesitated for a moment, then looked at the self-army soldiers who were screaming under Tongguan City, and finally stabbed the horizontal knife in his hand to the ground, directly into the ground three feet, and then shouted: "Order, retreat, return to Yongfengcang!" ”

On the second day of the ninth month of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, Huayin ordered Li Xiaochang to dedicate Huayin City and Yongfengcang to Li Yuan's rebels, and the rebels took advantage of the situation to attack Tongguan Shuangcheng, which was less than five miles away from Yongfengcang, but Chen Yingliang was prepared to stay in the eastern capital, and sent an elite army to lurk westward in advance, stationed in the westernmost Ruxiang territory under his jurisdiction as a township soldier in Ruxiang County, and arrived in time to Tongguan, which was only five miles away from the county seat of Ruxiang, to help defend it, Li Yuan's rebels attacked rashly and rashly, and were attacked by the Sui army in the eastern capital, with more than 2,000 dead and wounded, and were forced to retreat to Yongfengcang. Li Yuan's rebels' successive battles on the Western Front finally came to an end.

The scale of this battle is not too large, but the impact on the entire Guanzhong battlefield is extremely huge, the Sui army in the eastern capital that successfully defended Tongguan firmly occupies the initiative in the Guanzhong battlefield, and always threatens the largest grain and grass supply place of the Li Yuan rebels, Yongfengcang, and the Li Yuan rebels are completely passive in front of the Sui army in the eastern capital, so that when Li Yuan received the news under the Hedong City the next day, he was so shocked that the official document in his hand fell to the ground on the spot, his face was as pale as paper, and he couldn't say a word for a long time, and the two Li brothers and the rebel generals next to him were also as pale as earth, bold and timid.

The house leak happened to rain overnight, and at this time, the news of the defeat of Li Yuan's rebel army in the East Route Army was also sent to Li Yuan, and along with the information sent to Li Yuan, there was also the information that the Sui army hero who designed the defeat of the rebel East Route Army was Chen Fuliang's cousin Pei Xingfang. It was also at this time that Li Yuan, who had been stupid for a long time, finally shouted out a sentence, "Chen Yingliang!" Thief! The old man **** eighteenth generation ancestor! You thief made the old man almost bankrupt, and your two lackey relatives also fought against the old man everywhere, and made the old man suffer heavy losses everywhere! What is the enmity between the old man and you? What's the grievance?! ”

No one said anything, but many people's eyes quietly turned to Chai Shao's face, and they all said Great, General, the cause of your feud with Chen Yingliang is here, and it is your son-in-law. Chai Shao noticed these strange eyes, his face couldn't help but turn white for a while, and after gritting his teeth, Chai Shao simply hugged his fist to Li Yuanji, and said loudly: "General, the last general Chai Shao asked for an order to lead an army to reinforce Wang Changhuan and help him attack Tongguan, if Tongguan is not broken, the last general is willing to apologize with death." ”

Glancing at his son-in-law, Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and suddenly said, "I don't have an army to send to you!" ”

"Father-in-law!" Chai Shao looked up in shock.

"You go to Zhongdan City, tell Liu Wenjing, let him cut the Pujin Bridge, and then follow him to lead Wang Changhuan's rear army south, go to Yongfeng Cang to meet Wang Changhuan, and strengthen Wang Changhuan's troops." Li Yuan said coldly: "Count the schedule, the reinforcements led by Xiuning are also about to arrive, you husband and wife join forces to attack Tongguan with Wang Changhuan." ”

When Chai Shao heard the joy, he immediately hugged his fists and sang a promise, but Li Yuan shouted again: "Remember, no matter what method you use, you must take Tongguan for the old man no matter what!" Can't take Tongguan, military law is engaged! ”

Chai Shao first went to Zhongdan to find Liu Wenjing's order, Liu Wenjing also knew that the matter was serious, and immediately cut off the Pujin Bridge without hesitation, cutting off the fast passage for Qu Tutong's army to cross westward, and then immediately led the rebel army to the south with Chai Shao, and arrived at Yongfengcang on the night of the third day of September, and joined Wang Changhuan's division together, and the number of troops gathered exceeded 35,000, forming an absolute numerical advantage over the Tongguan defenders. Wang Changhuan, who was troubled by the lack of troops, was overjoyed and immediately set about building siege weapons and preparing to launch another frontal assault.

At the same time, seeing the arrival of the rebel brigade, Liu Gang, the main guard of Tongguan, trembled with fright, and kept asking his colleague and friend Li Jingdong when the reinforcements would arrive. Li Jing comforted him with good words, saying that he had already sent fast horses to the eastern capital to report the emergency, and the reinforcements from the eastern capital would definitely arrive soon, but in his heart, he had already begun to think about how to break the enemy, how to seize Yongfeng Cang, so that the rebels had no food, and could only be forced to take grain from the people and lose the hearts of the people. Zhang Jixun, the deputy specially arranged for Li Jing by Chen Fuliang, was also smiling, excited about the enemy's continuous increase in troops to attack.

During the day of the same day, the Daxing side, which had been disturbed by the traitors for many days, finally sent a request for help to the eastern capital Luoyang through the guò Guangtong canal waterway, but it was very unfortunate that the messenger sent by Daxing for help was intercepted and killed by the thief army just after arriving in Xinfeng.

On the fourth day of the ninth month, the rebel Wang Changhuan continued to make all kinds of weapons, and at the same time couldn't wait to send shrimp toad carts to fill the moats, Li Jing had few available troops in his hands, in order to be cautious to go out of the city to block, only to interfere with the delay with bows and arrows, and hurried to build a few trebuchets, and transported a large number of fortification materials from Ruxiang for backup - these fortification materials were of course prepared in advance for Li Jing, the cousin of the filial branch. On the same night, in view of the scout's perception that the rebels were frantically building siege weapons, in order to consume the enemy's strength and strength, and not to give the enemy the opportunity to attack the city again and pose a huge threat to Tongguan if he was not fully prepared, Li Jing devised a plan to lure the rebels to attack the city again with insufficient preparation.

Li Yuan, a generation of military gods, used tricks, of course, would not be like his nephew and nephew's cousin, using any shameless means such as deceit, insulting or humiliating the enemy's relatives, Li Jing just asked Liu Gang to write a note to Daxing, pretending to report the battle situation in Tongguan, during which he deliberately revealed that Chen Fuliang had already arranged more than that, and the Eastern Capital reinforcements would arrive at Tongguan on this day before the seventh day of the ninth month, and then sent the genuine Tongguan defenders to send a letter to the eastern capital at night. As Li Jing expected, the messenger had not yet walked ten miles out of the customs before he was captured by the rebel patrol soldiers, and the piece written by Liu Gang himself naturally fell into the hands of the rebels.

Although it is doubtful that the reinforcements from the Eastern Capital will be able to reach Tongguan before the seventh day of the ninth month, the foresight is not far away, and the notoriously treacherous and vicious Chen Fuliang can arrange Li Jing's strange army in Ruxiang, and no one can guarantee that Chen Fuliang has other despicable arrangements, and the reinforcements will arrive in Tongguan within three days. Forced by this sense of crisis, Wang Changhuan and Liu Wenjing, who originally planned to build enough siege weapons to attack the city again, did not dare to continue to waste time, regardless of the lack of preparation, and even the Tongguan moat was not filled, and decided to launch an attack the next day that night to take Tongguan City before the Sui army reinforcements arrived! - Tongguan is already difficult enough to fight now, and when a large number of reinforcements from the eastern capital arrive, will the rebel division still have a chance to touch the city wall of Tongguan?

Lack of preparation to launch a strong attack on Tongguan, a famous pass through the ages, the end is of course that the rebels can only use soldiers to fill the Tongguan moat that they failed to fill with shrimp toad carts, although the rebels have built some trench bridge cars, and also built a large number of flying ladders, but in the face of Tongguan Jiancheng, which is known as the first pass in the world, how much role can these simple siege weapons play? In addition to sending the soldiers of the self-army to the city to wait for death, and sending them to the city wall to be killed in mid-air, how much threat can it pose to Tongguan?

In the rumbling war drums, the rebel soldiers lined up in a dense formation were crowded, carrying rudimentary siege weapons, rushing to Tongguan Jiancheng like moths to the fire, flying arrows on the wall like locusts, falling rocks like rain, from time to time there were boulders thrown by trebuchets falling, and then when they were forced to the city, there was a golden juice made of dung and horse urine to entertain, climbed into the air and there was a fire curtain soaked in fire oil to greet them warmly, the rebel soldiers cried wolf howls, and rolled down the ladder that did not even peel off the bark one after another, and died a miserable death. The corpses of the rebel soldiers under the city wall were stacked on top of each other, and the corpses were strewn on the road, and the blood flowed abundantly, but the result was still useless, not only was there still almost no soldiers who could successfully land in the city, but on the contrary, the genuine Tongguan defenders under Liu Gang showed confidence and experience, and began to be able to share the pressure for the Sui army in the eastern capital, skillfully manipulate various weapons to defend the city, and create more casualties for the rebel soldiers.

It was not until the seventh day of the ninth month that the soldiers were killed and wounded close to 10,000 people, until the seventh day of the first month of September, when the small road outside the pass brought no traces of reinforcements from the eastern capital, Wang Changhuan and Liu Wenjing and others were vaguely aware of the plan, and did not let the soldiers go to Tongguan City to die in vain, and then in the evening when it was completely confirmed that there was really no bullshit reinforcements, Wang Changhuan and Liu Wenjing and others understood Li Jing's plan to lure the enemy. However, it was too late to find out, and it was completely equivalent to two days of strong attack like a moth to a fire, and the rebel division was already full of wounded soldiers, demoralized, and everyone was afraid of attacking the city like a tiger, and in any case there was no confidence and courage before. - How can the defeated army be brave enough?

At the same time, after several tentative attacks, the main force of the rebel army led by Li Yuan also confirmed that the Puban City defended by Qu Tutong was not so easy to take, but Li Yuan did not take people's lives to fill in the city like Wang Changhuan, but gritted his teeth and made a decision under the construction of his precious son Li Er, leaving only part of the division led by the general Lu Shaozong, stationed in Hedong to contain Qu Tutong, and personally led the main army to cross the Yellow River west on the eighth day of the ninth month, desperately entered the Guanzhong, and entered the Changchun Palace of Emperor Yang of Sui on the same day. He was appointed a lieutenant and added subordinate officers.

Didn't take Tongguan, didn't kill Qu Tutong, and crossed the Yellow River directly, Li Yuan was of course very risky to do this, but Li Yuan had no choice, all the way to surrender and rebel, although the total size of Li Yuan's rebel army has grown to more than 150,000 people, but most of these soldiers are the same as the soldiers under Yang Xuangan's command back then, they are all typical rabble, all the way to fight like a bamboo, the rabble is likely to fight more and more experienced, the more confident they are, and become real elite soldiers, but if the war is unfavorable one after another, The morale was depressed, the morale of the army was scattered, and it was possible to be beaten and collapsed by Chen Fuliang's charge, so Li Yuan had no choice but to march to the empty Guanzhong of the Sui army and boost the morale of the army with more victories.

Desperately crossing the Yellow River, Li Yuan once again made adjustments to the Tongguan battlefield, sent his eldest son Li Jiancheng to the Tongguan battlefield to take over the whole army, presided over the siege of the city, and at the same time opened the Yongfeng warehouse to help the people, bought the hearts of the people in Guanzhong, and also took the opportunity to organize the people to transport military food for the main force of the rebels to attack Daxing - this is also the most critical point, although the autumn harvest in Guanzhong is not long, the people have a lot of grain, but if Li Yuan's rebels dare to grab a grain from the people, the hearts of the people in Guanzhong will be dispersed immediately!

It was also a coincidence that at the same time that Li Jiancheng rushed to the Tongguan battlefield on horseback, Li Xiuning and the 30,000 rebels led by the thief He Panren also came to Yongfengcang according to the order, and joined the rebels of Li Yuan.

With the successful rendezvous of the rebels in Guanzhong and Li Yuan's rebels, the pressure on the Tongguan side is naturally greater, and the rebel camps on the wall are like the ocean, and the rebel bonfires are denser than the stars in the sky. ”

"Don't worry, on the terrain of Tongguan, the traitor doesn't just increase his troops by 30,000, even if he increases his troops by 300,000, he doesn't want to step into Tongguan." Li Jing smiled comfortingly, looked at the rebel camp and said: "When the reinforcements arrive, we can not only hold Tongguan, but also recapture Yongfeng Cang, cut off the supply of grain and grass for the main force of the traitors, so that the main force of the traitors will have no food to use in the pass." ”

Timidly glanced at the huge rebel camp in the distance, Liu Gang had no confidence, at this time, there was a soldier flying at the east gate, saying that Chen Yingliang sent someone to send an urgent letter from the eastern capital, Li Jing hurriedly ordered someone to invite the messenger here, and when he took Chen Fuliang's letter and opened it, Li Jing's expression quickly became extremely strange, and Liu Gang hurriedly asked: "Pharmacist, what did Chen Liushou say in the letter?" ”

"He wants us to try to reconnoiter the internal situation of the enemy and find out who the commander of the Li Niangzi Army, who has recently become famous in Guanzhong." Li Jing said with a strange expression: "My virtuous nephew suspects that the so-called Li Niangzi is likely to be Li Xiuning, the third daughter of Li Yuan's traitor, and said that since we have confirmed that Chai Shao came to the Tongguan battlefield, if this Li Niangzi is Li Xiuning, Li Yuan is ninety percent likely to send Li Niangzi's thief army to Tongguan for reinforcements, so that Chai Shao and Li Xiuning can reunite with his wife." ”

"If such a situation really occurs, we will try our best to find out the identity of this Li Niangzi, and then we might as well make a fuss about the alliance between Li Xiuning and the thief He Panren, and say that Chai Shao is short-tempered and impulsive, and the thief He Panren may not really be dead set on the Li family, if these things are used well, it will be a great opportunity to weaken the enemy and make the enemy chaotic without a fight."

"What do you mean? Why can't I understand? Liu Gang was confused.

The decent Li Jing didn't want to explain, but he couldn't stand Liu Gang's repeated questions, Li Jing still said helplessly: "It's very simple, it is to spread rumors that Li Xiuning is using beauty to seduce He Panren, which makes He Panren willing to be used by Li Yuan's rebels, there is adultery between the two, Chai Shao is a quick temper, knowing that this matter is bound to cause trouble, and there will be a contradiction with the thief He Panren, and then if He Panren is wronged, he is likely to betray the rebels, and maybe he may surrender to us." ”

"What a plan!" Liu Gang's eyes suddenly lit up, and he patted his thigh and said: "The Guanzhong thief army that came to reinforce Li Yuan's thief army today happens to be the thief army of what kind of bullshit Li Niangzi and Hu thief He Panren, if it is really as Chen Liushou expected, that Li Niangzi is Li Yuan's daughter and Chai Shao's wife, we spread such rumors, and the traitors will not make trouble within the genius!" This kind of thing is unbearable for a man! ”

"It's a clever plan, but it's a pity that it's too much." Li Jing shook his head, put the letter back on his sleeve, and continued to shake his head and said: "This kind of strategy to go down the three roads is too despicable and despicable, and we can't use it. ”

Li Jing, whose character is a hundred times stronger than his cousin's nephew, is really unwilling to accept such a thing, but it is a pity that there will be a person next to Li Jing who has a noble character and is the same as Chen Fuliang. ”

"That's exactly what I mean." Li Jing nodded, but he didn't pay attention at all, Liu Gang, who was definitely the same as him, had a vicious smile quietly appearing on the corner of his mouth.

"He wants us to try to reconnoiter the internal situation of the enemy and find out who the commander of the Li Niangzi Army, who has recently become famous in Guanzhong." Li Jing said with a strange expression: "My virtuous nephew suspects that the so-called Li Niangzi is likely to be Li Xiuning, the third daughter of Li Yuan's traitor, and said that since we have confirmed that Chai Shao came to the Tongguan battlefield, if this Li Niangzi is Li Xiuning, Li Yuan is ninety percent likely to send Li Niangzi's thief army to Tongguan for reinforcements, so that Chai Shao and Li Xiuning can reunite with his wife." ”

"If such a situation really occurs, we will try our best to find out the identity of this Li Niangzi, and then we might as well make a fuss about the alliance between Li Xiuning and the thief He Panren, and say that Chai Shao is short-tempered and impulsive, and the thief He Panren may not really be dead set on the Li family, if these things are used well, it will be a great opportunity to weaken the enemy and make the enemy chaotic without a fight."

"What do you mean? Why can't I understand? Liu Gang was confused.

The decent Li Jing didn't want to explain, but he couldn't stand Liu Gang's repeated questions, Li Jing still said helplessly: "It's very simple, it is to spread rumors that Li Xiuning is using beauty to seduce He Panren, which makes He Panren willing to be used by Li Yuan's rebels, there is adultery between the two, Chai Shao is a quick temper, knowing that this matter is bound to cause trouble, and there will be a contradiction with the thief He Panren, and then if He Panren is wronged, he is likely to betray the rebels, and maybe he may surrender to us." ”

"What a plan!" Liu Gang's eyes suddenly lit up, and he patted his thigh and said: "The Guanzhong thief army that came to reinforce Li Yuan's thief army today happens to be the thief army of what kind of bullshit Li Niangzi and Hu thief He Panren, if it is really as Chen Liushou expected, that Li Niangzi is Li Yuan's daughter and Chai Shao's wife, we spread such rumors, and the traitors will not make trouble within the genius!" This kind of thing is unbearable for a man! ”

"It's a clever plan, but it's a pity that it's too much." Li Jing shook his head, put the letter back on his sleeve, and continued to shake his head and said: "This kind of strategy to go down the three roads is too despicable and despicable, and we can't use it. ”

Li Jing, whose character is a hundred times stronger than his cousin's nephew, is really unwilling to accept such a thing, but it is a pity that there will be a person next to Li Jing who has a noble character and is the same as Chen Fuliang. ”

"That's exactly what I mean." Li Jing nodded, but he didn't pay attention at all, Liu Gang, who was definitely the same as him, had a vicious smile quietly appearing on the corner of his mouth.